


ADX-Florence

by itsacommonname



Category: Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Genre: Attempted Rape, Bane - freeform, Barsad - Freeform, Creepy Boss, Drugging, F/M, John Blake - Freeform, Mentions of Rape, Mix of Canon and Original Characters, Original Female Character - Freeform, Prison Drama, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:11:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6352954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsacommonname/pseuds/itsacommonname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world was more than willing to push Bane’s memory to the side, but for the residence and staff of ADX-F, he was about to become a reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hazing

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first post to this site, and I am very excited about this fic. This first chapter is long, at least by my standards, and I am normally very bad at exposition, so any sort of feedback is welcome.

Bane did not die on the final day of the occupation, much to the world’s surprise. People across the country were glues to their TV’s and radios, watching as the long-supposed leader of the rebellion movement in Gotham was hauled out of the courthouse, looking far worse for wear, and was rushed into emergency surgery. Again, much to everyone’s surprise, he emerged wearing the infamous mask he entered with, now fully fixed, but the reason why he was allowed to keep it was kept from the public. The lack of explanation didn’t stop the media speculation though, which was vastly conspiratorial. 

He was then kept in a very secure hospital while awaiting trial. First, it was set to take place in Gotham, but the defense argued that no one in Gotham could give Bane a fair trial, so he was quickly moved out of the city. Every move he made in public was documented in the news, cameras following his massive figure from armored vehicle to building and back again, always at the wrong end of several guns.

Only once did he publicly show any resistance, knocking the officer that was leading him to court to the ground, only to quickly be injected with what the news anchors called ‘horse tranquilizer’. He was largely kept from the public eye from that moment forward.

Many protested his recovery and trial, saying that he was not fit to continue living and they didn’t want their tax dollars to be spent on him. Some called for him to be deported, but the question was: where to? There was no ‘home’ for this man, as far as anyone knew.e Thousands signed an online petition for him to be publicly executed. Alas, the right to a fair trail applied to him as well. 

But, as with all criminals, he was funneled through the legal system in a highly publicized trial where he was handed thirty consecutive life sentences, although the judge assured him he deserved many, many more. The day of his sentencing was the only day he appeared in court and the image of the hulking man, still masked, cuffed and dressed in orange was plastered on every station and every newspaper for weeks, everyone speculating the legitimacy of his trial. 

When it came out that he would be spending his life in ADX Florence in Colorado, a super-max prison that was home to many terrorists (domestic or otherwise) that was known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies, most argument on the subject ceased. Eventually, his image faded from the papers and was replaced with puff-pieces on Gotham’s rebuilding.

The world was more than willing to push Bane’s memory to the side, but for the residence and staff of ADX-F, he was about to become a reality. 

***  
Myra’s life hasn’t been going so well up to this point. She wasn’t exactly the top student in high school and did even worse in college, dropping out after sophomore year. From there, she moved quickly from job to job, friend’s house to friend’s house, never finding a path for herself. 

Then there was that beautiful blue-eyed boy with a bunch of illegal plants in his closet, that turned into a shed, that turned into a whole barn. Before long, Myra was a full-time employee to his drug-trade, cutting and weighing the herb, putting into little bags and marking which one was which. She spent most of the time high, so she never bothered to weigh the good and the bad of it. When they moved in together, Myra played hostess for all sorts of low-time dealers. It wasn’t ideal, but rose-colored glasses do hide a lot. 

One of those low-time dealers just so happened to be a federal agent, who quickly busted Myra and her boyfriend on production and distribution of an illegal substance. Through a much longer, drawn-out process then the Gotham trials, her boyfriend was sent to a minimum-security prison somewhere in the Midwest. 

As for Myra, her mother (although extremely upset with her daughter) insisted on finding a good lawyer. As it turns out, a good lawyer is both a good and a bad thing. On one hand, there is an educated representative on your case, but on the other hand, courts loved to push back dates where there is a good lawyer involved, making the process incurably frustrating. 

So one day, several months after her initial arrest, when Myra got a call from her lawyer saying that the court was willing to offer a deal, she was more than willing to listen. When he said that she wouldn’t have to see court at all, she was almost willing to agree right then. 

He said the court offered for her to participate in a work system, far away from her home and normal ‘bad influences’-a direct quote. 

“What kind of work system?” Myra questioned over the phone, worried she was going to be on some roadside cleanup crew for months. 

“There is a warden in Colorado who is looking for a new secretary, and being in the correctional field himself, he likes to offer positions to low-risk criminals, like you. I passed along your information and he’s accepted,” Her lawyer clarified. The word ‘criminal’ rung in Myra’s ears, deafening everything else, and embarrassment burned in her cheeks. While she didn’t exactly live on the straight and narrow, she wasn’t a bad person. 

“So, what?” Myra continued. “I just work there for a bit and then I’m done? That’s it?” It almost sounded too good to be true, that she wouldn’t be put into a cell like her boyfriend was. But she was no naïve girl, having been around seasoned criminals for some time as they filed in and out of her apartment. Things never worked out well for them. 

“You work for him for two years, this will drop from your record. We already got it down to just possession, and trust me Myra, this is far better than going to jail.”

“Will I have to find a place to live? You’re telling me nothing,” Myra argued, mostly out of frustration. She knew he was right. The few days she spent in jail already was plenty for her and the memories of the solitude and isolation was on the forefront of her mind. That feeling is something she never wished to experience again, especially for the extended term she is facing. 

“Oh no,” He assured her. “They take care of everything. Place to live, food, plus you get paid a salary. It’s really a dream come true for you, or it should be.”

“How long to I have to think about it?” Myra asked

“Well, they were hoping we would respond today.”

“So I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Myra continued, knowing it was either this or jail. A throaty laugh came from the other end of the phone. 

“I guess not much of one,” Came the reply. 

***  
When Myra initially met Warden Daniels, there were no warning bells going off in her head yet. She hadn’t been told exactly what her travel plans would be, but they touched down in Denver after a couple hours in a plane and from there, she was put into a vehicle that was waiting for her on the runway. A state trooper accompanied her to Colorado, but he quickly abandoned her after he escorted her to the back of the car and threw her bags into the trunk.

All the windows were tinted, but when Myra settled into the car, she saw two correctional officers in the front.

“Hello,” the man in the passenger seat said nicely, looking back at her as the car started to roll. “I’m Officer Will and this,” he pointed to the man driving, “is Officer Granger. We’re going to be some of your new coworkers.” 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Myra replied pleasantly, but flatly. “I’m Myra.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Officer Will complimented her, still looking over his shoulder at her. Myra only smiled in return. They fell into silence for a few minutes, but as the car kept rumbling down some country road, Myra’s curiosity got the better of her. 

“So,” Myra began quietly, unsure of how to phrase her question. “I wasn’t exactly told what I would be doing. Or going, for that matter…” She trailed off, hoping one of them would pick up what she wanted. 

“Yeah, that’s not a surprise,” Officer Will thankfully said. “It’s more for your safety than anything else. Right now, you’re going to meet the warden at an off-site location, just to make sure you’re fit for the job.”

“And if I’m not?” Myra pressed, worried she came all this way just to be sent back and put in county jail. 

“I don’t think that’ll be much of a problem,” Officer Granger spoke for the first time, eyeing her in the review mirror. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Myra countered, feeling a change in the tone of the conversation. 

“He’s just kidding,” Officer Will interjected before Granger could respond. “Just relax Myra, we’ll be there soon.” With one more smile thrown at her, Will turned around and they spent the rest of the forty five minute drive in silence, except for when Granger turned on the radio, set to some county station. 

They pulled into a small, snowy mountain town that Myra didn’t catch the name of and then pulled into a small strip mall. Granger parked outside of a coffee shop that was named just that, Coffee Shoppe, and turned off the car. 

“Alright!” Will said, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his door. “Let’s go meet your new boss!”

With a quiet sigh, Myra followed the two men into the café, unsure of who she was meeting and completely unaware of what he looked like. It didn’t take much guesswork, though, with only three people dining in. Two were an old couple sitting next to the window, and the other was a man in a suit jacket who quickly stood when he noticed them. 

“Miss Myra, I assume?” The man wasn’t quite tall, nor was he short. In fact, he was incredibly average. Not handsome, not unhandsome, with brown hair and eyes. His shirt was nicely pressed, but obviously not very expensive. Myra smiled at him, hoping to give her new boss a good first impression, which he returned. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” He said sincerely, sticking out his hand. “I am Warden Jeff Daniels. I look forward to getting to know you.”

“Nice to meet you, Warden Daniels,” Myra took his hand and gave it a firm pump.

“Call me Jeff. Please, have a seat,” He insisted as he pulled out a chair for her.

From there, he sat down across from her and ordered her a coffee and bagel, which she only picked at. The guards stayed close by, but mostly left them alone as the warden asked Myra some menial questions. What was her mother’s name? Did she have any pets? What did she think of Colorado so far? And Myra answered pleasantly, laughing when it was appropriate to laugh and being quiet when he was talking, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed to be on guard.  
After only a half hour of chit-chat, in the middle of Myra’s sentence, Jeff clapped his hands together. 

“You’ll do perfectly!” Warden Daniels proclaimed. Myra wasn’t exactly certain what made him determine that, but her fear of being sent home was quelled. 

“With all due respect sir, I wasn’t told where I would even be working,” Myra said as demurely as she could, hoping her softness would help him tell her.

“Well, now that I know you are fine for the job, I suppose I can say. I am the warden of the Administrative Maximum Facility of Fremont County, Colorado, unofficially known as ADX-Florence. It is home to some of America’s greatest enemies. Your job, my dear, will be mostly to assist me. Office work and whatnot. I’m actually very happy you decided to take my offer. You are too beautiful to have sat in prison.”

This was the first moment that made Myra stop. She supposed it was an innocent enough comment, meant to compliment her, but she had never had a boss say something like that to her, at least not a boss this legitimate. But yet, she stayed quiet, merely smiling slightly and lowering her gaze. It was better to remain quiet, she figured, than raise a stink over what could have been a harmless comment.

Warden Daniels waved down the waiter and asked for the check, pulling out a couple bills and laying them on the table before standing.

“There’s no point in waiting any longer, let’s get to work,” Jeff smiled down at her and offered her his hand. Pretending like she didn’t see it, Myra helped her self up, still not looking him in the eye. The news of her new work place was still sinking in, and it was not sitting well. She was to be in the place that housed America’s most dangerous criminals, possibly even the world’s. 

And yet, she let herself be lead out of the coffee shop and into the front seat of a sleek black car with tinted windows. She remained silent as the warden slid into the front seat and revved the engine and she continued to do so as they started down the road, leaving the small town and entering thick, green Colorado woods. A glance in the mirror showed her that the car she originally came in was following them. 

The radio was playing some news station, but was too quiet to really make out anything. The inside of the car was pristine and smelled new, the leather seats almost looked untouched and there were no personal effects anywhere that she could see. 

Unsure of how long they would be driving, and the winding road through the woods already unnerving her, Myra brought herself up to at least say something, if nothing more than to get past the awkwardness she still felt at his comment towards her. 

“So how long have you been a warden?” Was the only thing she could really think of.

“For about ten years now. Started out at the state level and worked my way up from there. How long have you been a drug dealer?” Again, she was quite taken aback by his comment, said far too casually to have been meant maliciously but far too familiar for Myra to be comfortable. 

“I don’t know if I was a dealer or not. I mean, they came to my house and everything, but it was my boyfriend that was doing the actual selling. I just supplied snacks,” Myra tried to talk conversationally, make a joke, but he didn’t laugh. Nor did he respond. 

“Well,” Myra continued, “I started doing drugs in college and it was just kinda fun, you know? All my friends did it, everyone I knew did it. I had no idea it would get me in this much trouble one day.” 

“It’s okay,” Warden Daniels spoke, “We’re going to take good care of you.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled. Myra smiled back, but said no more. 

It wasn’t much longer that the trees eventually thinned out and Myra’s ears popped, meaning that they were at a higher altitude than she was used to. They came to a gate, which opened almost immediately for them and the car behind. From there, there was this great field and as they came over the edge of a hill, Myra saw the vast complex they were driving to. To the right, there were ungated buildings that looked like barracks, but to the left there was another high fence, this one with barbed wire at the top, it’s own smaller complex inside. In front of them seemed to lie their destination, double gated building with no visible windows from her position in the car.

As if he could read her mind, Jeff pointed to the right first. 

“Some of the military trains over there. There’s a baseball field and everything. Over there” He said, this time to the left, “Is the medium security complex. You can’t see it from here, but they have a bunch of stuff in the back like a greenhouse and a basketball court. But that beauty, the one right in front of us, is my ADX. The men inside only got what’s inside.”

“They’re not allowed outside?” Myra couldn’t think of anything more intelligent to say, taking it all in. Now, she could see a couple of doors in the front of the building, but she also noticed there was even a fourth fence around the corner of the building. 

“You want the Boston Bomber to be allowed outside?” 

“I guess not.” 

The gates that they came up to didn’t open immediately this time, and he had to roll down his window and open a small keypad Myra hadn’t seen before. He pressed his thumb to a small black square and just like that, the two fence gates opened. 

“We only need to go through two. There’s a newbie coming in today and he’s going to go through there,” Jeff continued to explain, pointing to the next set of gates around the corner. “There’s no getting out of here.”

He brought the car to a park in what seemed like a random spot, no parking lot or anything, but close to the set of doors in front. He undid his seatbelt and Myra did the same, getting out quickly and coming to stand in front of the car. 

“Come with me, Myra,” Warren Daniels ordered and Myra obediently followed a step behind. They seemed to be headed for a door marked 1A, but the warden stopped in his tracks as another vehicle, this one much larger and far more daunting, grey and box-like, rolled through the same gate they just came though. It didn’t stop with them, but instead kept rolling though the other set of barred gates, to the inner prison. 

Myra watched her new boss curiously. He seemed particularly pleased at the vehicle’s arrival, but a new prisoner can hardly be that exciting. He even had a small smirk on his face. 

For the most part, Myra hadn’t even thought about the prisoners. She was told she was going to be a secretary after all, so how much would she interact with the prisoners anyway? It seemed, from the sound of things, she was to be one of the warden’s personal secretaries; a new member of “The Girls”.

After the gates closed behind the car, Jeff turned back to Myra, the smirk still planted on his face. 

“Well, it looks like you’re about to get some hands on training,” the warden said nicely, although the words seemed malicious in nature. 

“What do you mean?” Myra drew back, worried. 

“The paperwork of new arrivals is your responsibility, so it’s best you learn it,” He explained, putting a hand on her back to guide her to the door marked 1A, his badge gaining both of them entrance. Myra thought it was best not to engage with her new boss much. Just keep her head low and get through the next two years, she thought.

Through an undecorated hallway, they made their way through another locked door, opened once again by the pass, before they came to a hall that could have been in any office building. Windows lined one side of the hall and doors were littered down the other side, before it came to an end at another gray, heavy looking door with a keypad. 

“Through that door,” Jeff said, pointing to the end of the hall, “is the hall to the main prison. We’ll go there soon enough, but first-the office!” The thought of going into the prison sent a bolt of fear down Myra’s back.

“We really don’t have to…” Myra started, but was quickly cut off when Jeff put a hand on her back and guided her to the first door. 

“Well you have to see the place you’ll be working,” Jeff answered before he could hear what she was saying. A key code let them in and the sight Myra saw was almost comical. 

Inside, running perpendicular to the door, were three desks turned toward them, leaving a small walkway between the door they entered and a door they were facing, marked Warden Daniels. The desks were heavy, dark wood and two were decorated with personal belongings. One was bare. Behind the desk stood a wall of filing cabinets and a couple bits of old computer equipment. Most humorous of all were the two girls whose things decorated the desks. 

Sitting atop one closest to the opposite wall was a blonde, hair tied up in a big bun and decorated with a black bow. Next to her was a small redhead, curls falling over her shoulder as she was typing away at her computer. When Myra and the warden entered, they both snapped to attention; first alarmed, then happy. The blonde was the first to bound up from her desk, approaching quickly with an out struck hand and a large, toothy grin. 

“Hello!” She exclaimed. “You must be Myra. I’m Alice. That,” she motioned to the redhead, who had too stood up but not yet approached, “is Lily. We didn’t know what to do with you desk, so we just left it alone.” 

“It’s fine…” Myra said, cut off once again by Warden Daniels. Annoyed, Myra hoped that this was not going to become a habit of his. The thought of remaining silent once again returned to her. 

“Okay girls, I’m relying on you to show Myra the ropes. Her stuff is being dropped off at the apartment right now, so why don’t you guys get her a uniform and show her around? Our new guest just got here, so I have to go welcome him. Get his paperwork in about an hour.” With that, he turned out of the room, leaving Myra to ‘The Girls’ mercy.

The warden, Myra realized, was a very commanding man when it came to the job. His tone meant that you did as he said. And the girls jumped to work. At the mention of a uniform, Myra noticed that both the girls were wearing the same thing; a black knee-length dress, extremely form-fitting with a cap sleeve, paired with black pumps. Myra was comfortable in heels, but she definitely did not expect to see them here. 

Alice went to one of the cabinets, opening it only to turn and eye Myra.

“What’s your dress size?” She asked friendly. 

“I don’t know…a six?” Myra didn’t exactly feel comfortable with this ‘uniform’ and wasn’t particularly eager to put it on. Keep your head down, keep your mouth shut was quickly becoming her new mantra as she repeated it to herself over and over. 

“Good, that’s the only one we have,” Alice pulled a dress exactly like the others and waved Myra over. For the first time, Myra breached the threshold of the desks and went behind. From there, she was handed the dress and then was asked for her shoe size to be handed a pair. 

She changed quickly after being escorted to the bathroom across the hall and the two girls beamed as she stepped out. 

“You’re one of us now!” Alice exclaimed, clapping her hands together. 

“Don’t scare her off just yet, Alice,” Lily smiled at her companion. It was the first sentence Myra heard Lily speak, her voice soft and subdued. And also for the first time, she wondered if the same thing that brought her there brought these two as well. 

“Oh don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere,” Alice answered, and that was answer enough for Myra’s internal question. They knew she was stuck, probably just as much as they were. “Now come on, let’s show you around.”

The tour consisted of a break room, a peak into the warden’s office, and (most interestingly for Myra) the surveillance room. An entire wall of monitors that seemed to broadcast every inch of the prison, including the surveillance room itself, buzzed, but no audio seemed to come from them. Two uniformed men sat before them, watching them intently until the girls entered. Immediately, they stood up and greeted Alice and Lily before turning their attention to Myra. She knew that they introduced themselves, but Myra couldn’t remember their names for the life of her. Instead, she focused on the cameras. Some were inside of the cells, some were in hallways, and some were outside. Myra felt slightly comforted that there was surveillance, even though it would have been obvious if she had thought about it. 

All too soon, an hour was up and the girls led Myra back to the office, where there was a clipboard with paperwork in the folder-holder on the door. Alice plucked it out and turned to Myra.

“Are you ready for your real training?” Alice said with all seriousness. Without a word, Lily went inside the office, but it didn’t seem that Myra would be offered the same luxury. 

“What does that mean?” Myra knew that she came across much more suspicious than she wanted to, but damn if she wasn’t. 

“Well,” Alice said, starting down the hall to the formidable armed door at the end of the hall, followed by Myra, “with a lot of cuts in funding lately, there’s not a whole lot of staff around here. Not that we want the inmates to know that, of course. So, part of our job is to get the initial paperwork done for the warden so that the guards can focus on keeping everyone safe. It’s a win-win really, the prisoners are content to see a pretty face and the guards get to focus on the main part of their job.”

It took a second to sink in with Myra. Alice explained it so well, so convincingly, that it seemed reasonable for a second. But then she realized the true meaning of her words. 

“You me that we personally talk with the inmates?” Myra all but squealed. Alice swiped her card in the door, opening it, before answering. 

“Yeah, you get used to it after a while. I mean, they’re in their cell the whole time so it’s not that big of a deal. You hardly see them anyway.” She kept her smile as she spoke, but didn’t look Myra in the eye. They were inside a small corridor, only a couple yards (if that) with only the door they came through on one side and a uniformed guard in front of another door on the other side. 

“Pass, please,” The guard said monotony to them, to which Alice gave him hers. He only glanced at it before turning and punching in a code to the door, which buzzed and swung open. 

For Myra, the first sight of the prison part of the super-max prison was a bit underwhelming. It was almost like a large cylinder, with a ground floor with various cement tables and chairs molded to the floor. Light flooded the area from a huge circular window on the ceiling, showing the blue Colorado sky. Lining the cylinder were five levels of railings. From where she stood on the ground floor, she couldn’t see any of the cell doors that must line the four upper levels, but she could only guess they were there from the fact they lined the first level. 

Each cell was only distinguishable by the numbers on the heavy doors, which were virtually identical to every door she had seen in the prison yet. The only difference being a tiny slat of a window, tinted so she couldn’t see inside from her spot. There were no prisoners to be seen per se, but the buzz of talk still filled the space. Suddenly, she saw a hand pop out from under a cell, holding something that quickly passed to the man in the next cell. 

Alice didn’t seem to notice though, only made her way to a staircase to their left. Myra followed, wishing to get this done as soon as possible. 

“So, we’re going up to the fifth level, where the super bad guys are. Terrorists and stuff like that,” Alice explained to her, much too chipper for the information she just dropped. 

“That’s not at all comforting,” Myra muttered, making Alice laugh out loud. 

“Oh, don’t worry. New people rarely come since other people rarely leave here, so this might be the only time you have to do Level Five paperwork. How long are you here for anyway?” It was the first time either one of them acknowledged the reason why Myra was there but, due to the circumstances, she welcomed the distraction. 

“Two years,” Myra answered her, feeling as much a prisoner as the men behind the doors. 

“That’s what my original one was too,” Alice said somewhat solemnly. Myra glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, but chose not to press any further. 

“What do I have to do?” Myra changed the subject. 

“Well, when you get in there, you just kinda follow the questions on the sheet…”

“Get in there?” Myra cut in.

“Oh, don’t worry, there’s like two doors. The armored one and then a barred one on the inside,” Alice explained, as if that was supposed to comfort her. 

“I don’t want to do that,” Myra’s feet seemed to drag, as if her body was holding her back involuntarily. They were almost to the fifth level. 

“Sorry to say it babe, but you don’t have much of a choice,” Alice didn’t look at Myra, but there was the tiniest hint of regret in her voice. “Anyway, when you get in there, just follow the sheet and there shouldn’t be much of a problem.” 

They came to the Level Five landing, marked by a big, red 5. They walked in silence down the hall, Myra keeping her eyes on her feet. Once, she glanced over the rail, but it made her stomach drop so she avoided doing it again. 

“Alright,” Alice broke the silence, “Cell 509.”

“Who’s in it?”

“I don’t know,” Alice answered, but Myra didn’t believe her. Three tiny buttons and a intercom speaker sat to the right of every cell and Alice pressed the top one, making a loud buzz, and spoke into it. 

“Inmate 509, please go behind the bars.” There was no answer from the inside, so Alice took a glance through the window, squinting to see past the tint. Seemingly satisfied, she pushed the second button and there was a clanking coming from inside. Myra could only assume it was the barred door shutting. She then pressed the third button and the steel door opened and Myra felt like Alice just opened the gateway to hell. 

“Go get ‘em, tiger,” Alice smiled at her, nearly pushing Myra into the cell. “Just stay behind that yellow line on the floor and they can’t get you.” As soon as Myra breached the doorway, Alice pressed the button and closed the cell again. 

It took Myra’s eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness inside, back pressed against the cell door, breathing erratically and very close to crying. When her eyes did adjust though, she noticed a figure lying on the bunk on the far side of the room, facing away from her. 

She looked down and saw a thick yellow line just a foot or so from her and she knew that must have been the line that Alice was talking about. It gave her a little bit of comfort, but not much. Although, it was just enough to try and get her work done. 

“Excuse me,” She cleared her throat, voice shaking, “My name is Myra and I’m here to ask you a couple questions.”

Again, the prisoner did not respond, but he did move slightly, which at least told Myra he was alive. 

“Can I have your full name please?” Again, nothing at first. “Sir?” 

“My name is Bane,” finally came the reply. And with it, Myra suddenly couldn’t breathe. Every image she had seen of this man and the atrocities he committed in Gotham rang in her head. Her pen had been previously poised to write and all of a sudden, she could hardly hold it. 

“B…Bane?” She questioned, praying it was a joke. Praying she had not been sent to the same place as this man, let alone be in the same cell as him. 

“They sent the new girl?” If she wasn’t in such a state of terror, she would have sworn he was telling a joke. 

“I’m…I’m in training…” Myra stammered, trying not to collapse.  
“No kidding.” 

Myra wanted to finish her work, she really did, but she was shaking so bad that her hand wouldn’t write. 

“Calm down,” He drawled from the bed, “if I wanted to kill you, I would have already.”

“But she said you can’t get to me if I stand behind this line,” Myra felt like an idiot, stumbling over her words and searching for any sort of defense against this man. She felt like she was behind hazed, an awful introduction into some sort of club, but the terror overshadowed her anger. 

She watched him slack-jawed as he rose from the bed. Finally, Myra got a good look at him, and it did not quell her fright. He was impossibly tall and far too broad, much more massive than he seemed on TV. He already discarded the orange prisoners shirt in favor of the white undershirt, tucked into his orange pants. But that isn’t what captured her attention. 

It was that infamous mask, plastered all over every news station and paper, website article and everything in between. The mouth-like grate resembled gnashing teeth and was held on buy two thick straps on either side of his jaw and one running up the center of his face. Like everyone, she once wondered why he was allowed to keep it, but that question didn’t seem very important at the moment. The hissing sound if his breathing suddenly had a visual to the sound and Myra could have sworn her stomach was in her knees and heart in her throat. 

The already small room dwarfed even more by his size and Myra shrunk further against the steel door, as if it would do any good, and willed herself not to look into his face again. He lumbered toward her, closing the gap far too quickly for Myra’s taste. When he reached the barred door, he stood and watched her for a second, but only a second before his arm shot out, easily going between the wide spaces between the bars, only for his hand to slam palm-flat on the door, an inch from her head. 

“This prison is pathetic compared to where I’ve come from,” Bane started, air hissing from his mask. “I have had homes more threatening than here. This place will burn to the ground before I die here.” 

Myra didn’t know what to do, what to say. She didn’t want to move for fear of provoking the man further and there were no words to make this situation any better. He only had to move his hand an inch to snap her neck, and she found herself staring at his arm, unable to meet his face.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” Myra stammered, begging the gods for Alice to return. This was far more than she bargained for. 

Finally, Bane removed his hand from the door, stepping away from the bars and back into 

“I’m new,” Myra continued, talking out of panic, saying things he already knew. “I’ve never even heard of this place before today. But hey, we showed up at the same time, right? That kind of makes us like…I don’t know…soul siblings or something.” Myra really didn’t know what she was saying, words just seemed to be falling out of her mouth. It was like she was trying to make up for not speaking before. In a way, she supposed that she was trying to make him relate to her, but realized she was failing miserably. She just hoped she could get out of there before he decided to kill her. 

“Do you have a point?” Bane wasn’t looking at her anymore, but didn’t return to the bed either. Instead, he sat at a cement stool near the small slit for a window, with just enough of the sun’s light catching his face. For a second, Myra glanced up and in the shadows, she could almost forget the mask was there. 

“I guess…I mean, I just hope you spare me when you decide to burn this place to the ground,” Myra hoped using his own words would make him realize it was a joke, but realized how desperate it sounded anyway. But when a quick outburst of air came from his mask, she could have almost sworn it was a small laugh. 

“We’ll see,” Bane said, looking up from the floor to her, their eyes finally meeting. Myra felt another jolt of fear, but a bit of pride in herself for meeting his gaze. 

That was all he had time to say before the intercom buzzed and Alice’s perky voice came over the speaker. 

“Ya done?” Alice nearly shouted. 

“Yes!” Myra shouted into the air, hoping Alice heard her. Luckily, Alice heard her and one more buzz was heard before the steel door opened. Myra didn’t spare another glance at Bane and nearly tripped out of the cell. Immediately, the door closed behind her. 

“You get everything?” Alice asked much too cheerily, the smile once again plastered on her face. Myra, still catching her breath, just shoved the clipboard into Alice’s bountiful chest, biting her tongue from saying anything mean to the girl. 

“Oh hun,” Alice said, looking over the paperwork that was far from finished. “You didn’t get everything. Well, you got nothing really. It’s okay though, Jeff wanted to see you, so you can finish later…”

“I am never going back in there,” Myra cut her off, the implication of Alice’s words being too much for her. 

“Well, you have to finish the paperwork, so I really doubt that,” Alice said, matter of factly, starting down the corridor with Myra following closely behind her. 

“Aren’t there like, trained people who can do that instead of us?” Myra was genuinely confused. She was just supposed to be some desk jockey for a couple years, no one told her she would be working one-on-one with some of the world’s most dangerous men. 

“It’s just paperwork,” Alice retorted, her voice not unkind. Myra wondered if she was always this cheerful and if she could get on whatever Alice was on. Myra decided to drop the subject since obviously Alice wasn’t on her side, but wholeheartedly decided she was never going to see Bane again, if at all cost. 

“When I first started, I had to do the paperwork of the Shoe Bomber and I mean, like right after it happened,” Alice told Myra. “I was pretty freaked out too, but you get used to it after a while. We don’t get new people all that much, so at least it doesn’t happen all the time.”

Alice was trying to make conversation and Myra was desperate to forget about her brief, threatening time with Bane so she played along. They chatted down to Level One, talking but not saying anything of importance. The prison was abuzz with the noise of hundreds of prisoners talking, moaning, or yelling. The center cylinder was lifeless except for a spattering of guards, all armed, meandering about. 

As they approached the first set of secured doors, the man watching them didn’t ask for their passes this time. Instead, he just eyed them and turned to punched in the code for the door and let them through. For Myra, it seemed as if, for a super-max prison, security was far too light. 

The door closed firmly behind them and before Alice could swipe her badge on the next security door, it opened for them. On the other side stood Warden Daniels, accompanied by two silent guards, guns in hand and eyes looking straight forward. Although Jeff looked angry when the door first opened, upon seeing the girls, his expression brightened considerably. 

“My lovely ladies!” He exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “I was hoping I would run into you. How did it go?” He meant the ‘training’ that Myra was still fuming about, but before she could open her mouth to say anything, Alice cut in. 

“Our newbie did well,” Alice lied through her teeth, “Just some work to finish in the office!” Her exuberance was too big to be real, and Myra could swear the blonde’s smile became faker by the second, but she had lied to let Myra save face and for that, she thanked her. 

“You finish it,” the warden ordered. “I have one more thing I have to show Miss Myra.” Even though it was said very friendly, there was an implication in the words that made Myra suspicious. Alice, on the other hand, only nodded to her boss and continued down the hall, turning the corner. In a second, Myra heard the third door open and close. 

“I trust the girls have been taking care of you?” Jeff asked as he put an arm around Myra’s shoulders, turning her right back around toward the main prison. They were let in immediately, as if the guard on the other side knew that they were coming. If Myra was given a chance, she would have lamented about how Alice just threw her in there, but she stopped herself when she was nearly pushed right into the center of the cylinder, the warden’s arm guiding her. 

“Warden Daniels,” Myra said with a quaky voice, mouth suddenly dry. “What are we doing?”

“I’m just introducing you to one more part of the prison system here,” He answered calmly, the smile still planted on his face. She supposed he meant it comfortingly enough, but it didn’t keep her from tripping on her heels.

All the noise of the prison did not cease, but intensify as she came to a stop. Knees knocking, Myra could not figure out what exactly she was supposed to learn from this and hoped, whatever it may be, was going to be over soon.  
Although it felt like a death march to Myra, she supposed it was only a moment or two before they stopped. The light from the ceiling window made Myra squint when she looked upward, to the level she was on only a few minutes ago. 

“Just one more moment,” Jeff assured her, giving her shoulder a squeeze. The warden was definitely a bit too comfortable with touching her, but she knew that any resistance wouldn’t be good for her. Her new mantra played once again in her head as she deftly followed him. 

With a nod of the warden’s head, one of the guards that had escorted the warden, who Myra recognized as Officer Granger, into the prison said something into his walkie-talkie that Myra couldn’t hear, but could definitely infer when moments later, ever single door that held the convicted away from her opened. 

In seconds, Myra was once again in a near panic. She wanted to run so badly and would have if it weren’t for the warden’s arm still around her. They prisoners filed out and appeared to just be going about a normal ‘outside time’ business-talking, bringing out cards, and just plain meandering about-before the warden spoke. 

“Gentlemen!” His voice boomed, echoed by the shape of the prison. “Approach the rail!” With the order, the prisoners came to the guardrail that surrounded each level. As they did, Myra was able to fully appreciate, and subsequently be terrified, of how many prisoners lived in these walls. If she had bothered to look up to the fifth level, she would have seen the gleam of a metallic mask leaning over. 

“This lovely young lady is Miss Myra,” Warden Daniels continued, “and she is our new secretary. For her first time, it’s going to have to be something big. Don’t bother me or her with any petty shit. You all know the deal by now. Make me an offer I can’t refuse.” 

With that, Warden Daniels turned Myra and quickly escorted her out of the prison, but not before it erupted with the noise of five hundred shouting men.


	2. The Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about this taking so much time to be uploaded. It was finished ages ago but I never got around to editing and uploading it. So I hope you enjoy the second chapter of ADX-Florence!

Myra was in complete and total shock by the time she was escorted out of the prison. What did the warden mean? It felt like she was literally on an auction block, up to bid on and available to whomever the warden decided-whatever ‘available’ even meant. The warden’s hand was still firmly planted square on her back, this time more than just too familiar for Myra’s taste. This time it was just downright appalling. 

Jeff lead her out of the prison and right to the girls once more, giving her a quick shove inside before Myra could object, and nearly slammed the door behind her without so much as a ‘goodbye’. Myra, tripping over her heels, didn’t even bother to try and catch herself and let herself fall to the ground, choking back a sob. If she had been looking up, she would have seen Alice and Lily looking at her with pity from behind their respective desks. 

Slowly, Lily stood and made her way to the shaking woman on the floor, kneeling and placing a small hand on Myra’s shoulders. 

“It’s going to be okay,” Lily said in a small voice, “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“What did he mean?” Myra demanded. 

“He meant,” Alice joined, “that the person with the most to give the warden is going to get some time with you. Really,” Alice said, with a sneer Myra hadn’t seen before, “it isn’t has bad as it seems. What did he say exactly?”

“He said that they must have something really good for him,” Myra recounted, “None of their petty…”

“So see?” Alice interrupted, “Someone is going to have to offer up something big to get you. Until then, it’s going to be Lily and me called to action, so to speak.”

“You guys do it too?” Myra asked, desperation in her eyes as she looked from Lily to Alice and back again. Then it dawned on Myra, Alice was lying to her earlier when she said that they hardly are near the prisoners. Myra knew her smile was too plastered on to have been real, but the anger she felt towards Alice was greatly overshadowed by the situation at hand. 

“Oh yeah,” Alice replied, “At first, it was the same for us too. Someone had to promise to keep their gang buddies out of trouble for a full year to get us, and then six years later, they just has to tattle that someone jacked off in the common rooms into someone else’s food…”

“Stop,” Myra begged, feeling sick to her stomach, “Please stop.”

“Why?” Alice said, the sneer back, “You’re going to get used to it eventually, might as well be now.”

“Alice, stop, she’s scared enough already,” Lily stood from her kneeling position, standing between Myra and Alice. 

“What happens?” 

“What?” Both the other girls asked at once, turning to look at the still-fallen Myra. 

“What happens when you…when I…when they make a big enough promise?” Myra was looking at the crisscross in the wooden floors, eyes wide but refusing to look at the other girls. 

“Well…” Lily began, petering off. 

“It depends,” Alice picked up, her tone more even. “At first, it’s normally just spending time with them. You know, inside the cell but the inside door closed, so they can’t get to you. You read to them or just talk or sometimes they just look at you and jerk off.”

“Most of the time, it’s just talking to them,” Lily tried to interject, trying to comfort Myra but to no avail. The brunette was now shaking on the floor; eye’s the size of saucers. 

“And the other bit of the time,” Alice continues, “The inside door isn’t closed.” 

“It doesn’t matter anyway, you lied to me already about that door stopping anybody,” Myra was moving from scared to numb, barring herself against what she could only assume was the inevitable. 

“What?” Alice asked, sounding genuinely confused. 

“You told me,” Myra started, finally looking up from the floor and looking directly at Alice, “That if I stood behind that god damn yellow line, they wouldn’t be able to get to me. He could have snapped my neck if he wanted to.”

“You mean Bane?” Alice said, sounding equally genuinely surprised. 

“Yes,” Myra hissed. With that, Lily and Alice looked at each other in mild shock, and Alice took a deep breath before speaking again. 

“That’s not supposed to happen.”

“No shit.”

“Look,” Lily tried, helping Myra up off the floor, “We can’t get mad at each other. At times, we’re all we have.” 

“I don’t want to have anything to do with you two,” Myra said, yanking her arm away. “You knew this was going to happen all along and didn’t even think to warn me! Alice, you lied to me!” 

“Look, you little drug dealing bitch,” Alice spat, advancing on Myra, “Having someone wag his dick at you every now and again, with a cell door between you and guards watching their every move, by the way, is much better than wondering if the meth head you’re sharing a cell with is going to shank you in a withdrawal-induced rage.” 

The pure anger that poured from the beautiful blonde stopped Myra from replying at first, too scared to retaliate. But she quickly regained herself, drawing herself up and standing with her shoulders back. 

“I’ve shared a cell with a meth head already,” Myra said flatly. “She was very nice and had three children. To be perfectly honest, I would rather be back with Shana in our little cell than here right now.” 

“Great!” Alice said, plastering on the now too-obvious fake smile, voice back to chirpy. “You can head right back there after you finish the paperwork you didn’t before.” 

Myra’s stomach dropped, eyes going wide once more, knowing exactly what Alice meant. Even after she was just offered up like a piece of meat, she was fully expected to go back into the prison and visit Bane once more. 

“Alice,” Lily said sharply, “none of us are innocent. Remember when I got here? Hell, she’s doing a million times better than I was. I was already in a full-blown panic attack by now. Do you remember what you did? You just held me and told me everything was going to be okay. Why doesn’t she deserve the same treatment? It’s scary here, especially at first.”

“If I had known you were a cold-blooded killer at the time, I might not have been so nice,” Alice replied, but her voice lacked the sharp tone that it had when addressing Myra. For Myra though, the revelation of why Lily was there was almost as big of a shock as the events that preceded it. This little, hardly five-foot redhead killed someone?

“That’s hardly fair, Madam Alice,” Lily said darkly. She then turned to Myra, eyes downcast but shoulders squared back. “I killed my stalker, but there was little proof he was actually stalking me. We all have our reasons for being here, the men behind those bars and the women in this room, but none of us are going survive without each other. That’s when you see the murders happen in the prison, when people go against each other. It’s sickening, especially since none of us, even people out in the free world, are innocent.” 

It was the most Myra had heard Lily spoke and she could have hugged the small woman, but held herself back. Instead, she saw that Alice looked slightly ashamed, plump lips forming a small line as she pressed them hard together, looking at neither one of them. For all the meanness that just came from Alice, Myra did feel slightly bad for her, bad for them all. They all somehow found themselves in this situation and now had to do what they had to do to get out of it. But she wasn’t alone, as she had felt just moments ago, and that thought gave her strength. 

“I’ll finish the paper work for you,” Lily said, voice small once more. 

“No, it’s okay. I can do it,” Myra replied, surprising herself with how easily the words came from her. “When do I get my own keycard?” 

“Probably tomorrow, or the next day,” Alice answered, temperament now even and looking far more humbled. “They’re probably still out, but you can check in the surveillance room if you want. They’re normally out for an hour a day. Do you need me to take you back again?” 

“No, I think I can make it on my own.”

“Okay,” Alice said far too easily, almost happily, “Well you can have my keycard. The paperwork is on your desk.” 

Myra took the keycard from the blonde’s outstretched had and the folder from her own desk, leaving the room without another word. She was headed towards the surveillance room, trusting the men inside to tell her what was going on, but noticed a familiar face coming from the direction of the inner prison and stopped. 

“Myra!” Officer Will exclaimed, picking up the pace when he saw her. “How’s your first day coming?”

“Oh, you know,” Myra started, trying to keep her tone lighthearted, “it’s going alright. I was just headed back into the lion’s den to finish up some paperwork.”

“Oh yeah?” Will stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned on the wall casually. “Who for?”

“The new guy,” Myra replied, hoping she sounded just as casual as he looked. 

“Bane?” His eyebrows raised, his small smile getting a little bigger as he pressed her. “He just got into his first tussle in there. Nothing too serious, just asserting dominance.”

“Is everything okay?” Myra just hoped he wasn’t in solitary confinement or something; she wanted to get this work done as soon as possible and forget about it. 

“Oh yeah, just some of the older guys tried to ruff him up. But have you seen the guy? I don’t think there is anyone who could ‘ruff him up’. Everyone’s okay, but I’m sure if he wanted to, Bane would have opened up a couple vacancies around here.”

Myra laughed a small laugh, even though she felt far from humored by the statement. After all, this was the man that she was about to be in a cell with. 

“Well, I had better get going,” Myra said, trying to scoot around Officer Will. 

“Hey, I’ll escort you. I wasn’t doing anything too important anyway.”

“I’ll really be fine,” Myra insisted. 

“I insist,” Will pressed. “After the fight, everyone’s kinda buzzing in there. It wouldn’t help much to throw a pretty girl in there too. But if you’re with me, no one will say anything to you.” 

In a way, it seemed like Officer Will was trying to help her out in a much more sincere way than Alice did her first time around. He wasn’t flirting or trying to insinuate anything, he seemed to be just looking out for her, so it was hard for Myra to turn him down. 

So she let him lead her down the corridor, through the first door and watched as he keyed in the code to the second door. As he opened the door to the main prison, she could tell right away that Will was not kidding about there being a buzz in the air. Before, there was a bit of a hum as a few were talking, but now it seemed like everyone was talking and yelling and bagging on their doors all at once. Instinctively, Myra walked a little closer to Officer will as they made their way to the staircase and up to Level 5. 

They didn’t speak on their way up, but with every scream and every bang, Myra’s heart skipped a beat and by the time they reached the top row, she was nearly stepping on his heels. 

From there, Myra took the lead to cell 509, trying to remember the process that Alice did the first time.

Myra went to press the first button but ended up shying away from it and just went immediately to press the second one, listening to the barred door inside clink to a shut. Officer Will behind her coughed, and a jumpy Myra glanced at him. 

“You’re supposed to tell them to get behind the door…” He trailed off, letting her fill in the rest. 

“I didn’t know what to say,” Myra sheepishly responded. 

Will peeked through the tinted window, seemingly satisfied that Bane was behind the bars and turned back to her.

“So how much time do you think you’ll need?” 

“I’m sorry?” Myra asked.

“In there, how much time do you think you’ll need? I’ll shut the door behind you and come back for you.”

“Do you have to shut it behind me? I would feel much safer if it was open.”

“It’s policy,” Will shrugged but didn’t look at her. 

“Policy? You mean for when I’m bided off?” Myra half joked, but there was still an edge to her voice. Officer Will just shrugged again. “Give me like 45 minutes. It took me forever last time.” 

“Whatever you say,” Officer Will responded, pressing the final button and waited until Myra was fully inside, this time without being pushed in, before he closed it behind her. 

It took a moment for Myra’s eyes to adjust again, keeping her back as close to the door as possible while they did so. As the room came more into focus, she saw Bane was not in his bed as he was the first time, but standing at the slit of a window, arm braced against the cement wall. 

He had to have heard her enter, it’s not exactly quiet when the bars close or the steel door behind her, but he made no motion to acknowledge her arrival, standing as still as a statue. She cleared her throat, hoping that would draw his attention, but he remained silent. 

“I’m back,” Myra said finally.

“Hmm,” Was the only reply that came from the giant, but still no motion. 

“I have to finish asking you a couple questions,” Myra pressed forward, feeling much more brave than the last time. Perhaps it was the exchange with the girls that let her know she wasn’t alone or the realization she was up for auction, but she was distracted from her fear either way. 

“Go ahead,” came the short answer. Myra was slightly taken aback, last time she was in here he wasn’t exactly friendly, but he at least had a little life in him. He threatened her and joked with her in a span of minutes, but now he wouldn’t even look at her. She wondered if his little scuffle dampened his spirits or if he had simply just calmed down since his arrival. 

Myra found herself staring at his massive back, and if she could forget who he was for a second, she would have found him quiet attractive. Impossibly broad shoulders and bulging arm muscles, he could have been any body builder. Not that she necessarily chased that type, but it was always nice to appreciate. That was, until he turned to face her and that awful mask that covered most of his face broke the spell. She was reminded she was still very much afraid of the man in front of her 

“Are you going to ask any questions this time?” He asked, voice flat. His eyes were in shadow, so it was impossible to read his expression. 

“I heard you got into a fight,” Myra said without thinking and immediately wished she could take the words back. But Bane let out a small snort that almost could be mistaken for a laugh. 

“Is that on your little sheet there?” She wasn’t expecting him to answer her, and although the somewhat friendly tone he exhibited in their last meeting was completely gone, it seemed as if he would still joke with her.

“No, I was just curious,” Myra replied, voice small and eyes downcast, realizing she was making a fool of herself once again.

“You’re not as afraid as you were last time,” Bane said, leaning against the wall in front of the window, his body blocking out most of the light. It just left a thin silhouette around him. “Why?”

At first, his question made Myra freeze. Why wasn’t she as afraid as she was before? Before, she couldn’t even hold her pen she was shaking so hard, but now, she was able to say full sentences to him. Quiet a big leap in just an hour or so, and it seemed as if he noticed it too. 

“I guess I just have other things on my mind,” Myra eventually answered him, still not looking up from her clipboard and papers. 

“I saw the little scene the warden forced you into. I’m not the only person who got in a fight in the past hour,” With that, Myra’s face burned with embarrassment. She understood exactly what he meant. While some men were trying to show dominance over Bane, some of the other men were fighting over her. 

“I really don’t want to talk about that,” Myra returned with a sudden edge to her voice that she did not intend to have. 

“Before I was challenged, I had a man explain to me what the warden was talking about,” Bane continued, despite Myra all but telling him not to. 

“What’s your last name?” Myra said, poising her pen on her paper and hoping he would just answer her questions and let her get out of there.

“There are two other girls? One of them came with you last time, didn’t she?”

“Yes. Last name?” 

“Put ‘unknown’. I heard the blonde one was the best, although the redhead is a very good reader, if that’s what the man wants.” Was he playing with her? His words were intrusive and rude, if said in normal circumstances. But this was anything but a normal circumstance. 

“Mother’s maiden name?” Myra continued, hoping he would get bored of the macabre teasing of her and just let her finish.

“Now that, I truly don’t know. I hear that most of the time, the bid isn’t big enough for these bars to open, but when it is…”

“Hometown?” Myra cut right in, teeth grating. Now she knew he was trying to rile her up. It seemed that if she was not afraid, he would rather she be angry. 

“I’ve already told you that. A prison much worse than this one,” His voice lost the mean, provoking tone that it had, becoming somber. This did make Myra stop and look up at him, noticing he was as still as when she looked down. 

“You grew up in a jail?” She couldn’t even stop herself from asking. 

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” He answered, mocking her with her own words. 

“Fine,” Myra said, not giving into him. “Crime…terrorism…” Myra wrote it in for him, not bothering to wait for his answer.

“Liberation.”

“Excuse me?” Myra said a tad angrier than she meant to. She, like the whole country, was gripped with fear watching the events in Gotham go down, and to hear the man that orchestrated it call it ‘liberation’ was, frankly, insulting to her morals. 

“And it will be again. Only this time, it won’t be for your countrymen. It’ll be for myself.” Myra could only stare at the black mass of a man, not knowing what to say next. He had implied this before, but the seemingly impossibility of his statements was outweighed by the conviction of his words. This man meant what he said. 

“What’s your name?” Bane asked her, finally moving away from the wall to stand in the center of the room. At first, Myra did not want to answer, she wanted to be as difficult as possible as he had been with her.

“The warden said it in my introduction,” Myra said sharply. 

“Myra,” He repeated, and for the first time since being back in the cell, her stomach dropped. From fear, discomfort, or some other emotion, she could not tell. “I have something I want to offer you.”

“What is that?” Myra said, suspicious of his intentions. 

“I need your help with something,” He continued, tone very serious and speaking much more quietly than he was a minute ago. “Come, put your hands on the bars.”

“No!” Myra reacted, pushing herself back against the steel door. She wasn’t even sure when she left it. 

“Just do it,” He all but ordered, “I promise I won’t hurt you.” 

And although she knew she shouldn’t believe him and all her common sense was yelling at her wildly, she took a step forward, then another (passing the yellow line for the first time), and then one more until she was inches from the metal bars. She reasoned with herself that there was someone watching in the surveillance room, that someone would come if he did indeed hurt her, but that didn’t stop her heart from pumping wildly. Still, she lifted her arms and wrapped her hands around the bars. 

In one large stride, he closed the gap to the bars himself. Although Myra knew he was tall and very broad, being within breathing range of him was the first time she could truly, terrifyingly, appreciate it. He towered over her and could snap her like a twig. She could smell him, a masculine musk that came from a few days without bathing, but not exactly offensive, and could hear the hiss of his mask as he breathed. She refused to look into his face, to see that mask this close, for fear of losing her nerve. 

“Myra,” He started, nearly whispering now they were so close, “I have a favor to ask of you.” With that, he easily covered her hands with his, enveloping them to her wrists. Suddenly, she felt something slipped between her fingers. 

“Contact this person. By email, as I assume it’ll be the easiest way for you. Send a message like you were talking to your mom or a friend back home. They’ll know who it’s from.”

“I don’t think I can…” Myra started, but was quickly cut off. 

“In return, I’ll keep you safe here.”

“What?” Myra nearly squawked, obviously much too loudly for Bane, who shushed her. 

“I have something enough to bribe the warden with for now. By the time that runs out, I’ll have enough power in here that no one will touch you if I say not to.”

Myra knew she shouldn’t trust him, she knew that there was a possibility that what he was saying was just a lie. Yet, she saw the power he wielded in Gotham and this was a much more confined environment. And for the first time since she came to ADX-F, she let herself trust someone. 

***

It felt like seconds later she was back in her office, and having quickly made up the answers that Bane didn’t give her, she set the ‘finished’ paperwork on her desk. They other two girls sat clacking away on their computers, giving her a small hello when she entered. 

Myra glanced at the computer on her own desk, heart pounding, realizing it could be as easy as Bane made it seem. But she didn’t want to make it seem too obvious and instead asked the girls what she was supposed to do with the finished paperwork.

“Oh, just put it on the warden’s desk. He’s not in right now, but we’re leaving soon anyway,” Alice answered, smiling at Myra. It was like the woman had two personalities, and the nice, sweet one was present now. “We have to show you the apartment!” 

Myra forgot for a moment that she was to live with these girls as well, perhaps share a bathroom and a bedroom with them. These should be the people she trusted, not Bane. And yet, they had every opportunity to tell her what her fate was in this place and chose not to. 

She went into Warden Daniels office, which was indeed empty, and dropped the clipboard on the desk, making sure to take with her the small piece of paper she his against the back of it with her hand. Myra then went back into the secretary’s office and went to sit behind her desk. 

“Do you think it would be okay if I emailed my mom real fast? I promised her I’d let her know I made it okay,” She lied, going to turn the computer on before they answered her. 

“Oh sure,” Alice replied, not looking up from her screen. “It’s not password protected or anything.”

“Wow, tough security measures here,” Myra joked with them, earning a snort from Lily. She quickly opened a browser and went to log into her normal email address. She unfurled the scrap of paper Bane gave her under her desk, checking out of the corner of her eye to make sure Lily and Alice didn’t notice what she was doing. She noticed written on the paper was what seemed like a normal email, a name (female) and some numbers, followed by the domain. But there was also a phone number. 

At first, she typed in the email address provided, but quickly decided against that. Anyone who even casually looked over her shoulder would be able to see it then. So she actually did put her mother’s own email, and then BCC-ed the provided email, so that her mother could not see whom else she was emailing. 

-Hi Mom!

I got here not too long ago and I’m safe. The people are nice, for the most part, and I’m not alone. I’ll call you if I can. 

I love you,

M-

And although it felt weird saying “I love you” to an unknown recipient, she hit send anyway.

A rush came over her and she couldn’t tell if it was from excitement or fear and she didn’t have much time to figure it out. She saw Lily and Alice packing up and shutting down their computers, so she did the same. Soon, she was leaving the office with two girls she had just an hour ago screamed at, to a home they all now shared.


	3. The First Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry in advance for this chapter. My ever-present motto of 'write drunk, edit sober' has made this a very boring chapter. Please enjoy and know this is only the beginning.

The apartment was outside the main gates of the super-max prison, attached to the barracks where the military personal lived. While there were quite a few young men in uniform loitering around outside, the girls exited from their car (driven by Officer Granger) into a private entrance where Myra saw no one once they went inside. They entered to a small foyer where only one chair to the left hand side, the front feet on an area rug that stretched across the door directly in front of them. The walls were like a dormitory, gray and blank, the floor a plain linoleum. Alice took the lead, heels clacking on the floor, while Lily let Myra go in front of her. The door behind them closed with a loud bang, loud enough that anyone who was inside the main apartment could have clearly heard it, although Myra doubted anyone was. 

The door in front of them was windowless and fairly normal looking, except for the fact that it did not have a door handle. In its place was just a keypad, which Alice quickly punched in the numbers. The door swung open on it’s own, reveling the apartment they were all to share. 

Quickly ushered inside, Myra was able to take notice of the ‘amenities’ she now would have to call home. Keeping with the same feel as the foyer outside, the walls and floor reminded her of the prison itself. Concrete walls that either Alice or Lily tried to cover up with various posters and pictures, but they couldn’t cover all of it. The floor was in desperate need of replacement, but looked like the girls tried to keep it as clean as they can. Directly opposite the entryway were three windows, each with their own shutter blinds, but the one on the far right had a large tapestry hanging over it with an image of a tree and various woodland critters, painted with shades of green. The light that came from that window left everything on that side of the room in a green hue, which was oddly a nice touch. 

“I thought we couldn’t bring many personal items,” Myra commented, staring at the tapestry. While lovely, it didn’t seem like the kind of thing she would think to pack when coming here. 

“There’s a nice little town we go to when we need groceries and things,” Alice explained, kicking off her shoes and walking to the couch, placed in front of the TV tucked into the left corner. “There’s a cute shop with a bunch of stuff like that, so we picked it up one day.” 

Alice flopped down on the sofa, long legs dangling over the armrest. Her earlier agitation at Myra seemed to have dissipated, although it didn’t make Myra any more comfortable around her than she was when the blonde was snarling at her mere hours earlier. 

Lily had gone to the small kitchen directly left of the door, opening the fridge and peering inside. Myra took off her heels, feet red and pulsing from wearing them all day. She didn’t quite know what to do next, and stood in silence for several moments. She knew it was going to be her home for the next two years, but it felt nowhere close to that yet. She felt like a stranger in it. 

As if sensing her discomfort, Lily looked over to her. 

“Your stuff should be in the room,” Lily said, pointing to one of the two doors on the right hand side. “The bedroom is to the left, bathroom to the right.” 

“We all share a room?” Myra asked, not realizing until now she never considered her sleeping arrangements. 

“That’s right,” Alice answered, flipping idly through channels. 

“You could go unpack if you want,” Lily continued, looking back into the fridge. Myra didn’t say a word in return, but started her way to the room. 

“Lily,” Alice said, “Make me a drink.” 

Myra could have laughed at the statement, as it was so casual and normal for one friend to say to another that it almost made their situation feel normal. Instead, she went to turn the handle on the bedroom door. Just as it clicked open, she heard Lily’s soft voice from behind her. 

“Myra, would you like one too?”

Myra let go of the handle, the strong grip of one her many vices returning to her. As casually as she could, she glanced over her shoulder to the two beauties looking at her.

“Do you have any tequila?” 

OoO

It took no time at all for the three girls to sit around the counter, each laughing and telling stories, talking over one another as the night progressed. Despite Myra’s earlier irritation at Alice, they now sat next to each other, happily content. Lily kept doling out the drinks, as if liquoring up the two girls would keep this friendliness going. 

“I swear, they know that I’m going to kill that fucker once I get out of here. That’s why they’re keeping me here so long,” Alice took a long swig of her drink after the last sentence, as if to put a period on it. 

“Who?” Myra asked, eyes glazed and speech a bit slurred. 

“The fucker that turned me in!” Alice all but yelled. “Some redneck asshole was beating on one of my girls, so I sent my brother and some of his friends over to his place. Cops came for me the next day.”

“But up until then, you were the best pimp in all New York,” Lily giggled, clearly trying to stand without swaying. 

“Madam!” Alice corrected. “And damn right I was the fucking best at it. All of my girls were damn good, no trash for me. If I didn’t let my guard down just that one time, I wouldn’t be here.”

“And if that man didn’t come on to my property, I wouldn’t be here either,” Lily smiled devilishly, taking a sip from her glass. Myra started wide-eyed at the little redhead. Alice has said she was a murderer, but hearing the reason why truly surprised Myra. She didn’t think Lily to be like that. 

“Don’t worry,” Lily said, noticing Myra’s reaction. “He was stalking me.”

“It’s not like you hid very well afterwards,” Alice chimed in. 

“Hid? I’m the one that called 911!” 

Although the statement was joking enough, Myra still couldn’t shake that the little girl in front of her had a stalker violent enough that she felt like she had to shoot him. Lily, calm, small Lily. Myra thought it was truly unfair for her to be here, with a madam and a drug grower. It didn’t seem right.

“Kinda ironic they sent you to Colorado, huh?” Alice cut into Myra’s thoughts, turning toward her. 

“It is. Do they drug test here?” Myra joked, even though she had little desire to smoke pot anymore. It was like she had some mild form of PTSD and every time she thought of partaking, the thought was quickly followed by the memory of the SWAT team dragging her out of bed. How her dog was tranquilized in the corner and how she could see her boyfriend through the front window, kneeling on their lawn with his hands on top if his head. She briefly wondered if the other two suffered from the same kind of memories she did, but kept her mouth shut. Even in her drunken state, she knew when she would be crossing the line. 

Luckily, the girls just laughed at her comment and each went for their glasses, so Myra did the same, if nothing more than to drown out her thoughts. It’s true what they say; the drunk-girl-spiral is a real thing. One minute she was on top of the world, loving and happy with her newfound friendships, and the next she was miserable. 

Again, she could have sworn Lily sensed her mood and offered her a kind smile. 

“So, was that your mom you were emailing earlier?” Lily asked, topping off all of their drinks. Myra had taken a big gulp before Lily’s words had fully processed and she nearly choked when she realized what had been asked. Myra had all but forgotten her promise made to Bane, as if leaving the prison somehow had made it all not real. That she hadn’t contacted someone for him and put herself at risk of being caught.

“Y-yeah,” Myra sputtered, still coughing. “Just letting her know I made it okay.” Lily must have looked over her shoulder and saw some part of her message earlier. Myra, who is normally quite honest when intoxicated, kept her lips firmly shut about the true intentions of that message, although she decided that it was far too risky to do again if Bane asked her to. 

If Bane asked her to.

Myra shook her head, as if to rid it of the thought. She never wanted to interact with him again and, if he kept his side of the promise, she wouldn’t have to interact with any of the prisoners ever. 

Lily was still looking at her, but kept whatever thoughts she might have had to herself. Myra tried to bring herself back to the present, back to the jokes and stories, and tried to follow along with the conversation at hand, something about the best and the worst guards in the prison, but found it hard to focus though the fog in her mind. Whether the alcohol or her thoughts created the fog, she did not know, but she felt her head nod and her eyes were much heavier to keep open. She thought it would be okay if she just laid her head on the counter for just a second. The other two girls looked to be slipping as well, and they said nothing when Myra leaned down and closed her eyes for a second. 

It really only was a second. Almost immediately, the phone on the wall next to the counter starting ringing violently, cutting through the conversation and Myra jolted up, head whirling at the sudden movement. Lily just stared at the offending device, knuckles going white from gripping her cup so hard. Myra saw the fear in her eyes and almost immediately felt the same, although she couldn’t be certain what she was actually afraid of. She didn’t know exactly what the call meant, although she had a good guess, but seeing Lily act this way did not bode well. 

Alice was looking at the phone through the corner of her eye, but took one more sip of her drink before she reached over Myra to answer it. 

“Hello?” Alice answered nicely, trying to hide her slurring. “Yes Jeff, of course honey. Not a problem. How long, do you think? Okay, sounds great baby! See you tomorrow!” 

However nice her voice sounded on the phone, her face equally soured when she hung up. 

“Well girls, get your heels back on, we’ve all been called for,” Alice announced, pushing herself away from the counter, trying not to wobble as she went to pick up her shoes from in front of the door. It took Myra a minute to understand what that meant, but seeing Lily look miserably into her glass helped it all sink it. 

They were going back to the prison already. Fear started to set in for Myra, fear that Bane hadn’t kept his end of the promise or worse- that he was the one that she was being called for. 

Whatever bravery she had earlier in the day when she faced him for the second time melted away. She now knew the full implication of what it meant to be called upon, how she no longer had any control over her own body if she ever hoped to get out of this sentence. 

0o0

It didn’t take long for a car to show up for them outside of their apartment, each girl back in their black dresses and high heels, covered with a coat to keep out the chilly Colorado winter. They piled in silently, each trying to keep themselves looking like they weren’t two sheets to the wind. Myra hoped she didn’t smell like liquor, but quickly gave up on that wish when Officer Granger looked at each of them in turn with a raised eyebrow before pulling away, away towards the opposing main gates of the max-security prison. 

Officer Granger did not follow them inside when they pulled up, but instead let the girls hobble out and try not to trip over themselves as they made it to the main entrance. Alice swiped her card and the door opened with a buzz, where the hallway inside was dark, only every couple of lights were on. They trotted on, passing the windows and the bathroom and the office, to where the door at the end of the hall stood. Again, Alice swiped her card and they were gained entrance. Myra immediately saw the guard at the end of the short hallway half asleep, leaning against the wall and eyes staring unfocused at the ground. Myra envied him, in a way. She wished that she could lean against the wall for support, her legs feeling like jelly and her stomach now turning, but she maintained her act of sobriety (as best she could, anyway) and closed the door behind them with a bang. Their arrival, or more likely the noise from the door, forced him to wake up and key them in, pushing the prison door open just slightly, turning back to them before giving them their assignments. 

“Lily, room 210,” He spoke flatly. He must have known they were coming, enough to where to send them, despite his fairly detached nature. It had only been a few minutes since the girls themselves found out they were to go to the prison and Myra wondered how far in advance the guards were made aware, seeing as how this one had time to doze off. “Alice, room 300.” He paused for a minute, looking at Myra before he spoke into the walkie attached to his shoulder.

“Where’s the new girl going?”

“509.”

Bane’s cell. 

Although she expected it, although part of her was relieved the giant did keep to his promise, she still wanted to heave when she heard the definitive answer come though. But before she had time to wallow in her drunken misery, the guard opened the door wide enough to allow them through and, sandwiched between Alice and Lily, she was forced inside. 

Even though it was late, the prison was still alive with commotion. The sound of yelling men made Myra’s head pound and it took all her might not to cover her ears with her hands. If she had looked up from the ground, watching her feet as she walked forward, she would have seen men peering out at them from their little slit of a window. She would have seen the various guards moseying about, letting the inmates yell at each other. She also would have seen the leers from both guard and prisoner alike.

The girls made their way to the staircase in single file. In the middle, Myra looked up for a second and saw Lily in front of her, gripping the railing just as hard as she was, looking to the ground just as she was. A glance over her shoulder showed that Alice was trying to keep her balance by hanging on to the rail as well, but was looking straight ahead. When she saw Myra looking back at her, she shot her a small smile. 

“It’s really not that bad,” Alice tried to reassure her, but it did nothing for Myra’s nerve. “But hey, at least you’re drunk for it,” Alice didn’t even bother to try and stop her slurring this time, tripping over her words. 

“I don’t know if that makes it any better,” Myra mumbled back before turning around. 

Lily left them first, not even turning around to say goodbye as she left on the second level. Myra watched as a guard opened a cell a ways down and she stumbled in. Alice left next, but Myra didn’t watch her go this time. Instead, as she made it to the fourth level, she turned around and plopped herself down on the landing, unable to find the motivation to go on. Her head was spinning and her eyesight was blurry, so she put her head into her hands and closed her eyes. From there, if she were anywhere else, she might have been able to doze off for a second. 

She might have anyway, but almost as soon as her eyes closed, she heard the clanking of boots running up metal and before she could look up, several guards rushed by her. She watched lazily as they went up to the fourth level, and then to the fifth. She had a sinking feeling when she watched them turn, followed a second later by an almost monstrous roar. 

Myra doesn’t know what propelled her to get up, but like a drunken fly to a bright light, she went towards the noise. She stumbled up past the fourth level and as she was making it to the fifth, she realized she could just turn and go. She could run back to the apartment and she bet no one would even notice, save for Bane. She figured whoever was watching in the surveillance room was focused on the commotion, as were the on-duty guards. 

But as she was thinking this she had already came to the landing on the top level, and what she saw shook her right out of her thoughts. 

She should have been able to guess who made the almost inhuman noise, but she never would have been able to guess the sight she was about to see. 

Bane himself was in the corridor, a guard clinging to each arm. Myra supposed that they were trying to subdue him, but they only ended up looking like rag dolls that Bane was trashing about. Another man was behind him with a nightstick and when he hit the giant, Bane swung around, taking the other two with him, and knocked the offender to the ground. Just as Bane was about to reach for him, just as one large hand was about to clamp around the guard’s neck, a man Myra hadn’t seen before stepped in front of her, blocking her view. She could only see his arms held out, clasping something small and black in front of him. 

“Don’t shoot him!” Myra yelled, tumbling forward to grab the man’s arm. In an instant, she feared that her only protection in this hellhole would be gone. Instead, the man just pushed her off and pulled the trigger. 

Instead of a bullet, two electric strings shot out and dug into Bane’s abdomen. If it were any other man, that would have sent them to their knees. Instead, Bane squared his shoulders and ripped the cords out of his chest. He descended upon the man in an instant and this time, he did wrap his hands around the man’s throat, lifting him off the ground. Immediately, the man’s hands when to Bane’s and tried in vain to pry them off, his feet desperately kicking to find purchase, his eyes bulging.

“Bane, put him down!” Myra finally addressed him, grabbing onto his arm and yanking, although she knew it was futile. He turned his head to look at her, as if it was the first time he noticed she was there. His grip on the man didn’t lessen though and the other guards, although more in number than Bane, kept back. This was as close as Myra had ever been to Bane, both hands wrapped around his forearm, and although she trembled in fear, the adrenalin kept her looking at him in the eye. 

“You’re late,” He spoke flatly to her. Myra could have laughed at the statement, given the current situation, and she did let out a huff of air. At that sound, Bane must have eased his grasp because Myra heard a sharp intake of air, but she still did not look away from Bane. 

“Yeah,” She continued, unsure if her current bravery came from her adrenalin or from the alcohol. “But if you’re put in solitary confinement for this little scene you’ve got here, you’re going to break your promise to me. Which is a hell of a lot worse than being late.” 

With that, Bane seemed to calm entirely, his entire aura changed from the beastliness of a moment ago, to the calm strategist Myra had come to known. He released the man entirely, allowing him to drop to the floor and shuffle away, hand at his bruising throat. 

“I doubt these men could physically take me anywhere,” Bane joked, turning to the small crowd of guards behind them. Myra noticed not one of them was carrying a gun, something she saw so prevalently earlier in the day. 

“Why is nobody armed…” Myra started to ask, but never got her answer when Bane interrupted her. 

“Come,” He whispered as best as he could, hissing through his mask as he leaned in to her ear. “Just follow me and don’t raise suspicion.” With that, he walked forward, through the guards and they made room for him, parting down the middle. Myra obediently followed, sobered by the events that just transpired. 

“Close the door behind us,” Bane ordered the men, as if it was perfectly natural for him. It probably was, Myra thought to herself. She realized much too late that this would be the first time she was shut in with Bane with no bars separating them. As the door slid to a shut behind them, she felt much too claustrophobic and her fear and anxiety returned to her. Moments ago, the man who was now strolling so casually into the main part of his cell looked entirely ready to choke a man to death. 

“Bane, why did you go crazy like that?” Myra couldn’t blame the question on anything but her curiosity, although she could later justify it as a way to see if she was at all safe being confined with him. His answer was a simple shrug, his back to her. He sat down at the concrete desk with a huff, opening a book from the stack in front of him. Quite the collection for only a day’s residency, Myra examined. 

“Why weren’t any of them arme…” Again, the same question was cut off when Bane spoke to her. 

“You smell like alcohol.” Simple and true. He didn’t even look up from his book as he said it. 

“Yeah, well that’s what happens when you drink alcohol,” Came her tart reply. He only glanced over his shoulder at her and snorted in response, which Myra could have sworn was some kind of laugh. He turned away once again to keep reading, idly flipping the page before addressing her again. 

“Are you going to stand in the doorway all night?” She only realized then that her back was still pressed against the steel door behind her, as it had been every other time she had been in the cell. Only this time, she could freely wonder around and chose not to. On that same card, so could he and he had chosen not to. 

“I might,” was her stubborn reply.

“That’s your choice, I suppose,” He said, sounding bored with the conversation. 

“I mean, you just threw around grown adults like they were kittens. You took a taser like it was nothing! What the hell are you? And I have to stay with you all night?” Myra burst out, slumping against the door, staring at the floor. At this, Bane fully turned on the small stool to look at her fully, resting his arms on his knees to lean forward. 

“Listen to me, Myra,” she shivered at her name being spoken with the nearly robotic sound of his voice. “You needn’t concern yourself with the safety of others, not in here. Just know I’m not going to hurt you, if for the sole reason that you and I are partners right now. Now go and sleep on the bed. It’ll make time go by faster.”

Myra just looked at him and he looked at her at her crouched position on the floor. 

“But what if you…” Myra started, trailing off, unsure of where to go from there.

“If I were to assault you,” Bane continued for her, “I could do it whether you were awake or asleep. But know I’m not going to, that I have no desire to.”

If it were any other man in any other circumstance, Myra might have taken slight offense to that statement, but coming from Bane, she couldn’t help but believe it, as well as be relieved by it. He had never shown any sort of wanting for her, never even touched her, spare the time he slipped the piece of paper to her. Shakily, she got to her feet and, under his gaze, she wobbled into the cell fully for the first time. She past in front of him and to the bed on the far side, the very bed she saw him in for the first time. 

Gingerly, she slipped out of her shoes and into the uncomfortable bed with a scratchy blanket. She did not look at Bane again, but she did hear the pages of a book being ruffled and it wasn’t long until sleep overcame her, finally relieving her of her oncoming hangover. 

OoO

On any normal morning, Myra would love to slowly wake up, reviling in being in bed, warm and secure. But the second her mind started to wake up on this morning, Myra jolted up, knowing immediately where she was. Her dress was hiked up around her waist, from what she could only assume was sleep, and her mouth felt dry and gross, but if it weren’t for the light coming in from the small slit of a window, she could have sworn that no time at all has passed since she fell asleep. Bane remained at the desk, not asleep as she would have been, but still reading a book. He had an open notepad next to him with writing Myra could not read from her position. 

From this angle, Myra got a good profile look at the other occupant. One long leather strap stretched across each cheek, digging into his skin. His bald head was covered in yet another strap of the mask. His breathing was the same as it was the first time they had met; even and metallic. Although she could only see one eye, she saw his focus and intensity on the material in front of him, not even a hint of the exhaustion she would feel if she had stayed up all night. Brown eyes, squinted in attentiveness. For one brief moment, she wondered what was under his mask, if his lips were pursed in concentration or if he even had any lips at all. 

Myra immediately swatted those thoughts out of head and swung her legs over the side of the bed, slipping her shoes back on before standing. As she did, the world seem to tilt around her, dizzying her and forcing her to sit back down with a small ‘oomph’. 

At the noise, Bane glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. 

“Good morning,” He drawled, closing the book and standing, coming to stand before her, close enough she had to look up at him. She eyed him wearily, wondering how long she had been asleep and how much longer she was going to be forced to stay with him. Although it hasn’t been necessarily traumatic, the mere thought of having spent the night, however innocent it might have been, with Gotham’s Reckoning did not sit well with her. 

“How long do I have to stay in here, Bane?” Myra asked, standing up once again. 

“I’m not sure,” Bane replied, looking towards the door. “Not much longer, I’d assume.” 

“Bane, about our deal, I didn’t mean…” She never got a chance to finish her sentence. Instead, at the word ‘deal’, Bane let out a low growl and he visibly stiffened. In the next second, his inhumanly large hand shot out and clenched around Myra’s shoulder, hard enough that her knees started to buckle. 

“Bane, stop! You’re hurting m…” Again, before she could finish, she was violently dragged to the far corner of the room, the farthest corner from the door, past the window and nearly behind the bed. He pushed her in front of him and braced both his arms around her, trapping her there. 

“What are you doing?” Myra asked, trembling, hoping that whomever was in the surveillance room had noticed his violent behavior and was sending help. “You’re scaring me.”

“Make no mistake, Miss Myra, I am no gentleman,” Bane replied, keeping his voice low, not quite snarling but on the verge of it, “But we do indeed have a deal, the newest condition of which being that we are not going to mention it anymore. Not when we’re here, not when you’re with the others, not ever. No one can find out about it.” 

“I…I understand,” Myra stuttered out, nodding vigorously, unable to bring herself to look him in the eye. She was truly frightened, but his voice was even and although not kind by any means, it was not threatening either.

“Do you still have the paper I gave you?” He continued. 

“Yes,” Myra replied simply, trying to push herself further into the wall, further away from the man pinning her there.

“If you ever get a moment, give the number a call.”

“What should I say?”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s just so…” Before Bane could finish, the door to the cell slid open.

“Prisoner 509, step away from the girl,” Bane didn’t even hesitate, didn’t say one more word to her as he turned away, allowing Myra to see the line of guards, ready and in formation, standing in the doorway. 

“Come this way Miss,” One of the officered goaded her, “You’ll be fine, we gotcha.” 

Slowly, but without looking back at Bane, she slid away from the corner. Once she was past the threshold of where the metal bars could slide into place, they did. 

“Bring cards next time,” Bane spoke one last time before the steel door slid shut, trapping him inside. So there was to be a second time, Myra thought dryly to herself. Probably a fourth, and a fifth, and however long it took for Bane to get bored of her, or her use to him was dried up. 

Silently, she was escorted down the five flights of stairs and only when she finally was at the bottom, when she was walking along the edge of the main room, she realized what Bane was doing. 

He not only successfully got her out of there when she clearly wanted to be, but he also kept her out of the camera’s view so that they couldn’t see her reaction. Whoever saw the interaction would have no clue what they were talking about. 

As clever as that may have been for Bane, she could still feel his hand on her shoulder. It ached and she knew it had to have bruised. She was hoping she would have a chance to go back to the apartment, to shower and change and generally just get ahold of herself, but instead she was led straight into the office. 

She was dropped off at the door and pushed it open with a sigh. She still didn’t know the exact time and was hoping it was just too early, that it would be empty inside and she could get someone to drive her back to the apartment. 

Instead, she found the two other girls already clicking away at their computers, fresh faced and with clean clothes.

“Wow!” Alice said, looking up from her computer and noticing Myra. “You look like shit!”

“Thanks,” Myra said dryly. She sat in front of her computer and brought her hands to her face, running them over her eyes and through her hair, detangling the ends but succeeding in spreading her mascara even more around her face than it had already been. 

As if on cue, an small orange pack was plopped onto her desk. Looking up, Myra saw Alice standing above her, leaning against her chair. 

“What’s this?” Myra asked, picking up the bag. 

“It’s makeup. Go fix yourself up, you’re all smudgy and it’s making me sad. There’s a comb in there too,” Alice explained, smiling. She looked perfectly done, freshly applied lipstick and a French twist in her hair. There was no way she could have stayed the night here, like Myra had. Lily too, even though her hair was naturally big and curly, it was tamed into a bun at the nape of her neck. Both of their dresses were free of wrinkles and neither looked slightly hung over, which Myra definitely felt. 

“Come on,” Alice pressed, “We’ve all been where you are and you’ll feel better once you’re fixed up. You have a full work day in front of you too, so hurry up.” 

Myra was coming to realize that this is just how Alice spoke. Her words were a mix of helpful and hurtful, but Myra didn’t spend too much time worrying about it this time. Instead, she took the advice and stood, leaving the office and making quick work in the bathroom of fixing herself up. The foundation wasn’t her color and she felt weird using someone else’s makeup, but she slapped some mascara on, put concealer under her eyes, and a swiped a nice picky color over her lips. Vaguely satisfied with her face, she ran the comb through her hair a couple times. It didn’t even come close to working out the kinks, so she dug in the bag for a hair tie and plaited a loose braid, letting her long hair fall over her shoulder. She knew she must smell bad, but there was no deodorant in the bag and the small bottle of perfume was too floral for her taste, so she just ignored it with a small shrug. 

When she came back to the office, she sat behind her computer again. Alice gave her an approving smile as Lily passed her a stack of papers. 

“These are the prisoner reports, just get into the system and update their files. It’s pretty self explanatory,” Lily explained, pointing to Myra’s computer screen where the system was located. Lily then handed Myra her own ID card. “Here, use my ID to log in. You should get yours later today.”

Myra opened the ‘system’, logged in, and honestly tried to do work. But like any computer work, it got boring fast for her. Instead, she opened the Internet browser. It almost was like her fingers moved on their own when they started typing in her email. She told herself she just had to check, just to see if there was any response at all. Even from her mother. It would be rude not to look if her mother did reply, she reasoned. 

And there was a response. A quick glance at the name showed it was indeed her mother. She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed, but she opened it nonetheless. 

_Thank you for letting me know! Love you!_

To an outside eye, it would look like a sweet message from a mother to a daughter, but Myra knew better. Her mother was much more long winded than that. It wouldn’t be like her at all to send such a short message, and especially not in this circumstance. Her mother would have asked if she was eating well, warm enough, anything more than what was actually written.

She looked at the sender’s name again just to reassure herself that it was indeed her mom when she noticed something. It was mostly her mother’s email address, with one small change. There was an added period between the two parts of the address, where her mother’s name met a series of letters. An undiscerning eye would have passed it up, and Myra wouldn’t have noticed it if she wasn’t looking closely. 

It had to have been a reply from Bane’s contact. They evolved the email address to be less detectable, and although it fell apart under some scrutiny, it was easy enough to hide from someone who wasn’t looking for it. 

Just as she was analyzing the email, just as her hand went into the dress pocket to feel the crumpled piece of paper inside of it, the door to the office opened wide. Directly in front of her stood her boss, a large smile plastered on his face. 

His presence was so unexpected that Myra nearly jump in her seat, only barely managing to keep still. She quickly clicked out of the email and attempted to look busy, even though he had already seen her. She put on her own small smile, attempting to look as demure and innocent as possible, hoping Jeff would underestimate her enough to buy it. 

“Good morning, lovelies!” Jeff exclaimed, fully entering the office. “I know you ladies had a long night, so there is some coffee for you in the break room.” 

“Thank you Jeff!” Alice and Lily answered in unison, as if fully rehearsed. Myra mumbled a thank you seconds after them, knowing it was expected of her as well. 

“Alice and Lily, go drink them before they get cold,” Jeff nearly ordered, “I need to have a talk with Myra here.” 

The other two girls stood up from their desks, each giving him a smile before turning to her, each giving her a look she couldn’t identify. For her though, she could have chewed on her heart, it was so far up her throat. She was certain he had found out about her emails. He knew about the deal. He was about to let her go, send her back to the Midwest to go to prison for herself. 

He perched himself on the edge of her desk and looked down on her. Myra stared into her hands, unable to meet a man’s gaze for the second time that day. 

“You did well last night, I hear,” Warden Daniels began. “I know it’s tough, but if you did well this first night, it’ll be fine from here on out.” 

Myra stared at her hands, unable to find a proper response. She wanted to yell at him, tell him it’s his fault she had to do it in the first place. But her mantra from the day before played over and over in her head, to keep her head down and her mouth shut. He had only spoken one sentence after all, he could be working up to him knowing about her secret communications. 

“Prisoner 509 has requested to be your only caller, as it were. How do you feel about that?” With that, Jeff leaned forward and touched Myra’s still tender shoulder. She tried to hide her wince, but couldn’t quite manage. 

“I saw the footage from earlier, when he grabbed you” Jeff continued, gently rubbing her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Yes sir.”

“Please, Myra, Jeff,” Jeff corrected her as he stood from her desk and reached over for Lily’s chair, only to grab it and pull it up close to Myra’s. 

“Jeff,” Myra repeated, if nothing more than to appease her boss. 

“Anyway, Myra, Prisoner 509 has made me a very nice offer, so much so that I would be willing to appease him with his request. As long as you’re okay with that,” As Warden Daniels was speaking, he reached out again, this time resting his hand on Myra’s knee. Myra stiffened, but still did not look up. 

“Tha…that’s fine,” Myra finally replied, hoping it would make the conversation go by faster. 

“He is a very unstable man,” Jeff kept going. “But I promise, we won’t let anything bad happen to you.” It might have just been Myra’s imagination, but she could have sworn his hand inched up her leg just the tiniest bit. 

“Thank you,” was all Myra could think to say. 

“Well,” Jeff said, taking his hand away from Myra, much to her relief, “If you’re alright with it, then I’ll go ahead and accept his offer.” 

“Jeff,” Myra started, curiosity getting the better of her, “if it’s okay, can you tell me what exactly he…offered?” It felt weird using that specific word, but bore through it. 

“You don’t need to worry that pretty little head about it,” Jeff answered her with a small smile, reaching out to pat her leg again. This time, though, it was a little too high up her thigh for Myra’s personal comfort. She looked over and saw the warden full-on grinning at her. His hand stopped patting, but did not move. Instead, he spread his fingers out, bringing his pinkie finger far too close for comfort. 

Myra was unable to control herself. She stood up violently, not only making Jeff remove his hand from her, but knocking over her chair as well. Embarrassed from her reaction, Myra quickly took a few steps back, lifted her chair and stood on the other side of it, head down and looking at her boss through her lashes. 

He was just looking at her with all the casualty in the world, his grin settled into a smirk that he didn’t even bother trying to hide. 

“Are you alright?” Warden Daniels asked her, folding his hands in front of him. His attitude left no room for her to disagree with him, he held her life in his hand and he knew it. It was at that moment that Myra, again, was forced to face her situation. She was an object, a plaything in this building. She was put up in the pretense of saving her from prison time, but she was just as trapped as any inmate in that place. Even her boss could do whatever he wanted and there was nothing she could do, no one she could call, without it having dire consequences on her. She would face many more years in prison, still at the mercy of the staff and other inmates, than she would here. He knew it too. 

“I’m fine,” Myra said stiffly. “I’m going to go to the break room now.” That was the only thing Myra could think of to get away, and he seemed to accept it when he nodded and stood, coming to her. Myra wanted to back away, but stubbornness mixed with fear kept her in place. He placed his hand on the small of her back, turning her towards the door, hand splayed so that it was half on her back, half on the curve of her ass. She wanted to move away, but she was let go soon enough when they reached the hallway. 

“Enjoy your coffee,” Jeff said nicely, leaning against the doorway and watching her go. 

OoO

The rest of the day passed without incident. The other two girls only looked at her curiously when she entered the break room, but said nothing when she didn’t offer any information. They continued their work day without speaking much, each clicking away at their respective computers and they left the prison promptly at five o’clock, the car that was to escort them back to the apartment already waiting outside for them. 

During the car ride, Myra leaned her head against the window, shutting her eyes. She was flat-out exhausted, she almost felt like she was jetlagged. The day started with a tentative friendship turned violent, if only for show, and was rounded out by an unwelcomed touch by her boss. The coffee was good and soothed her soul, however slightly, and helped her get through the rest of her day, but the car ride was making her crash. 

The car stuttered to a stop in front of their building and the girls filed out, Alice saying thank you and waving the driver goodbye before going inside. 

This time, both Alice and Myra plopped down on the couch, each splaying out from exhaustion while Lily went to the bathroom. It wasn’t long after that the two girls on the couch heard the bath water run. 

“Oh yeah,” Alice suddenly said after several long moments of silence, while trying to find something to watch on TV, “We need to go to town today. We don’t have any food.”

Myra only grunted in response, already half asleep. 

“I think it’ll be good for you to go out,” Alice continued, settling on some wedding show. “And by the way, about Jeff, he’s harmless. Flatter him, turn him down gently, and you’ll be okay.”

Myra could only stare at Alice. She knew. She knew what Jeff had tried to pull on Myra while they were alone together and was giving her advice on how to counteract it. On top of that, she wanted Myra to go to town for them. It was in that moment that Myra truly longed to escape, however temporary it might be. Her aching bones were overwhelmed by that desire. It had only been two days and she needed to be outside the gates of the whole compound.

“I’ll call for a car.” Was all Alice needed to say before Myra rushed to the bedroom to change into something more comfortable. 

Twenty minutes later, Myra sat in the back of a car, blissfully alone in a loose band t-shirt and leggings tucked into brown boots. Her winter coat hung loosely over her shoulders. It was the first time since being on the compound she was in her own clothes and it almost felt foreign to her, even though it had only been such a short amount of time. She inwardly groaned at the time she had left, but as she left the initial confines of the compound, she felt almost free.

She would have felt fully free if it weren’t for her escort. It was the man from the night before, the one who was half-asleep at the final prison door. Just as the night before, he hardly looked at her. His security cap was pulled low over his eyes and his uniform was crumpled. He wasn’t even wearing a name tag, like the rest of the guards. Myra did not feel fully comfortable with him, but her elation at being out kept her mood from being too sour. 

The town itself was a quintessential small town. There was a main street with a few antique shops, a visitor center, a shoe store, stuff like that. There was a gas station on one end of the road and a small grocery store on the other. Alice gave Myra a list of things to get from the store, as well as a credit card. The guard dropped her off at the door of the store and told her he would be back in an hour. 

As he drove off, Myra realized it was the first time she had actually been alone in months. When she got arrested and spent several days in jail, she was constantly monitored, as well as when she was let out on parole when she had to meet up with her probation officer at least once a day. At that same time, she had moved in with her mother, who acted as her in-home guardian. 

Myra made quick work in the store, picking up each of the things on the list as well as a few items she would like to have around. She never did have much patience for grocery shopping and was done before the hour was up. As she exited the store, she spotted a nearby bench where she sat her bags before sitting down herself. It was nippy outside, but bearable, and she breathed in the cold mountain air. Here she was, finally alone since her arrest, and all she could think to do was sit. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a pay phone on the side of the building. Subconsciously, she fingered a piece of paper inside of her bag that held both an email address and a phone number. She already had made good on her promise and sent an email, as well as received a reply, but slowly, her curiosity was overcoming her for the second time that day. She deeply wondered who it was she was communicating with. Was it the people that she had seen stand with Bane in Gotham? The organization that over took a whole city before anyone could figure out a way to stop them? Perhaps the person who replied to her was someone she had seen on TV, standing next to Bane. 

Myra gripped the paper in her fist, standing and leaving her bags behind. Her feet seemed to move on their own, bringing her to the phone. A quarter fell in on it’s own accord, and the paper came out of the bag without her really thinking about it. 

Just as she was about to dial the first digit, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Myra could have jumped a mile high, turning and holding the paper behind her back, trying to slip it back into her purse. Behind her stood the guard that escorted her there, looking her dead in the eye. There was an intensity there that she had not seen before, his cap off and brown hair spilling over his face. His jawline was tight and he looked…angry? Myra couldn’t quite figure out the emotion he was portraying, but it was certainly very intimidating. 

“Yes?” Myra tried to say evenly, “How can I help you, Officer…?”

“Blake. Officer Blake. And I have something I need to ask you about Prisoner 509.”


	4. The First Month

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there. I know it has been quite a while. I was fully prepared to abandon this fic, but due to a lovely comment left, I decided to continue on with it. I know some people may have just left well enough alone and don't want to continue reading, but do know that I do really want to continue this now. I have worked hard on this chapter and I hope you enjoy it.

“Blake. Officer Blake. And I have something I need to ask you about Prisoner 509.”

“I beg your pardon?” Was the only thing Myra could think of to say, peering at this seemingly normal guard. What did he know? Myra didn’t have much respect for law enforcement anyway, let alone some lone prison guard that was probably just trying to see if Bane fucked her or not, but if this man had somehow figured out her deal with Bane, she was in deep shit. 

“We’ll talk in the car,” Officer Blake said, although he didn’t turn to move. He only stepped to the side, offering her to go before him. Myra just looked at him. He wasn’t a bad looking man by any means, and she would even think he was handsome if it weren’t for that shiny badge on his chest. 

“I don’t know anything,” Myra replied instinctively, having been taught the phrase long before her drugging days, back when one of her friends got busted with alcohol at some party.

“Look,” Officer Blake said back to her with a small smile, “you have to come in the car with me one way or another, might as well talk to make the time go by faster.” 

Myra still did not move, stubbornly holding her ground. 

“Come on,” Officer Blake urged again, smile unwavering. In fact, it grew into a full-on grin, showing off his dimples. 

“Fine,” Myra spat. “But only because I have to come.”

“I’ll help you carry your bags,” He said, just a tad too enthusiastically for her liking, bright smile never wavering. 

Minutes later, Myra found herself back into the front seat of the prison car. She had managed to slip the paper back into her bag when Officer Blake turned his back to walk to where she left the grocery bags, but she still desperately wondered who would have picked up the phone. If Officer Blake hadn’t interrupted her earlier, she would have at least one more answer to her questions about Bane. Is she talking to a man or a woman? Would they tell her anything about what Bane was planning? In the end, she realized it mattered very little to her what Bane’s plan was, as long as he kept up his end of the bargain. 

At that, she turned to look at Officer Blake, who hadn’t said a word to her since they got into the car. He was softly humming along to the song on the radio, patting his hand long to the beat on the windowsill. His sharp jaw and kind eyes reaffirmed for her that he was indeed a handsome man, but then that badge of his caught the light and shined in her eyes and completely blinded her from his handsomeness. 

Sensing her gaze, he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. 

“Can I help you with something?” He said, mirth in his tone. 

“You’re kidding, right?” Myra snapped at him. “You’re the one who said you needed to talk to me.” 

“I figured you’d tell me when you were ready,” Officer Blake shrugged. “Especially if you’re so afraid with just one simple question.” 

“I don’t have anything to tell you,” Myra clipped out, already frustrated with the young officer. “And if you really wanted to know anything, you could have followed me to the cell last night instead of sleeping in the hallway.”

Again, Officer Blake just shrugged. “Who says I didn’t?”

Myra froze once again. If he was actually there, depending on what time he was there, he would have heard them talking about their deal; the very thing Bane just forbade her from speaking of ever again. And if he knew about the deal, even if he just knew there was one, he was bound to uncover her secret correspondence. 

“What did you hear?” Myra demanded. 

“Enough to know that you two have a little thing going,” Officer Blake said, not elaborating his point. The implication, though, had Myra blushing. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Myra tried to sound nonchalant, but instead sounded a tad too angry to be. 

“I know that you have some sort of loyalty, or obligation, or something to a man that had killed more people than are in that prison, a man that has killed children.”

“What loyalty?” Myra said, genuinely caught off guard with that comment. 

“My name is John Blake, and I was a police officer in Gotham during his reign,” John’s whole demeanor had changed by that point. His jaw had tightened and his knuckles had turned white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. There was a certain intensity in his tone that was not quite anger, but had the same fervor to it. 

“You were in Gotham?” Myra asked, hoping for any sort of elaboration of his time under Bane’s rule, a subject that had deeply interested her since it had happened months ago. Meeting the actual man had allowed her to separate the news stories of the masked villain from the man that half-joked with her, but now knowing that the man sitting next to her had lived through it brought her back to reality. 

“I believe that’s what I just said,” John said, cracking a smile that did nothing to soften his demeanor. “I saw too many young, vulnerable people, just like you, fall into his trap.”

“So why are you here?” John was becoming just as much of a mystery to Myra as Bane was, and she did not like it. 

“I guess we all have our secrets here, don’t we Miss Myra?” John joked with her, although that was the exact opposite of what Myra wanted to hear. She stared straight out the front window, unwilling to engage this man any further. He wanted information from her without being willing to give any about himself, and Myra knew this game. 

Soon enough, though, they were back at the compound and pulling up to the apartment. Without a word, Myra went to leave the car, shutting the front door behind her and opening the back door to get the groceries before turning around, fully intent on that being their final conversation. 

“Hey,” John’s voice stopped her from slamming the door. “I just want to tell you to not get too close to him. Even if it was just him, it would be dangerous enough. But they are going to be using him here, and if they are using him, they will be using you, too.” 

“Excuse me?” Myra responded, leaning down into the car. It came off much more aggressive than she meant to, but what he just said threw her through a loop. How could the prison be planning on using Bane? They must not have taken into account just who Bane is, seeing as how he could toss around guards like they weighed nothing. 

“I am saying this because you seem like a good girl, so just do what you have to do here and get out when you’re supposed to. Don’t get too close to anyone.”

“Don’t worry,” Myra said as she started to close the car door, anxious to end the conversation. “I have no plans to.”

After the car pulled away, she quickly made her way into the apartment, ignoring the cadets that had gathered close by to pass around a cigarette. She was forced to knock on the inner door, having not yet been told the combination. Lily answered and immediately took a couple bags from her. Alice was nowhere to be seen, but Myra did hear a shower running in the bathroom. 

“You look exhausted,” Lily said, taking the groceries into the kitchen. “Go lay down, I’ll put these away.”

If Myra had been even a little less tired, she would have politely declined and helped Lily put the things away, but the offer was too good to pass up. She unlaced her boots and put them next to her heels before slumping her way to the bedroom. Three twin beds stood with about a foot of space between them, two with personal effects and one against the far wall with just a blanket and a pillow. Figuring that was hers, Myra stumbled to it and flopped down, barely awake for a moment before sleep finally took her. 

It seemed like no time at all before an alarm clock went off and the lights came on in the room. Myra blinked a few times, too tired to be angry yet, and saw Lily leaving the room and Alice just sitting up, looking as mad as Myra felt. 

They dressed quickly, Myra forced to put on the same dress. She knew it had to have a slight smell to it now, but she had no other options. Or so she thought, until Alice opened the closet door to reveal several identical clean dresses. Alice pulled one out and, without looking at her, tossed it at Myra. 

They had a quick breakfast of toast and fruits, only barely finished when the phone rang. Lily picked it up this time, looking much less afraid then the last time the phone rang. 

“We’ll be out in a second,” was all she said before she hung up. And she didn’t lie, they were out the door in a matter of seconds, Myra barely even getting her shoes on before she was ushered outside. 

Before she knew it, Myra found herself back in the office, logging into the prison system to finish her work from yesterday. Her eyes felt heavy and her fingers were slow, but the day passed quickly. Before she knew it, the other two were standing up and telling her it was time for lunch. 

“I didn’t bring anything to eat,” Myra said sluggishly, still too tired to move any faster than a snail’s pace. Jeff and his wandering hands had yet to make an appearance, which was perfectly fine with Myra, but now she longed for the coffee he brought them yesterday. 

“It’s okay,” Lily started, “You can have…” Before she could finish, a black uniformed guard pushed open the office door. Myra recognized his grave face as Officer Granger. For one brief second, Myra wondered where John Black could be, but it was cut short when Granger pointed at Myra. She sighed, knowing exactly what this must be about. Officer Granger then turned to Lily and pointed to her as well. 

“Come on, you two,” He said gruffly. “Duty calls.” Myra did feel annoyed by this interruption, particularly because of her low blood sugar, but she noticed that Lily once again paled to almost a deathly white, her hand ever so slightly shaking. In that moment, Myra realized she almost had it easy, that at least she never had to go to whomever was making Lily this scared. 

Almost too familiarly, Lily and Myra were led into the prison, where Officer Granger instructed them they were going to the “normal spot, girls” before starting to the staircase. 

They made their way to the stairs together, where Lily insisted Myra go up first. Although they could have walked up side-by-side, Myra didn’t question her. She did figure out why, however, when she looked back once and saw that Lily had quietly slipped off onto one of the levels. Officer Granger said nothing and did not follow her. Why she was being so secretive, Myra couldn’t say, and made a mental note to ask her about it later. Now on her own, she walked to Bane’s cell, not even bothering to push the talk button before going for the second button, the one that would close the barred door within. 

“Just leave it,” Officer Granger stopped her. “It’s going to be open anyway.”

“But shouldn’t we close it,” Myra questioned him, looking at him incredulously. “So he doesn’t try to escape?”

“Whatever you want, I guess,” Officer Granger’s expression never changed, only shrugged his shoulders and pushed the second button, effectively closing the gate within. Myra suppressed an eye roll, no wonder Bane was so confident in his eventual escape. Granger then pressed the final button, letting Myra in. 

She thought about how just hours ago, she was petrified to be in the same room as the giant, and how she seemed to be able to put that fear aside with just a simple promise, one that he could go back on at any point. Or, perhaps, it was because he, even the littlest bit, respected her. At least enough to not choke out a guard when she asked him not to. The most likely reason though was that they, as Bane put it, were partners in here. He couldn’t hurt her because he needed her and she couldn’t rat him out because she needed him. 

As she was lost in those thoughts, she didn’t even really notice the main steel door opening and only vaguely registered when it had closed. Like every other time, her eyes had to adjust to the dim cell lighting, but when things eventually became clear, she noticed that Bane was nowhere to be seen. Her breath caught in her throat, had he really escaped to fast? Left her behind with no contingency plan? No, she told herself, he had just called for her, he had to be here somewhere. 

All of this happened in about a second’s time, because just as the barred door was sliding open, she felt a large presence appear behind her and the hairs at the back of her neck stood on end. He didn’t need to touch her, she didn’t need to see him, but she knew Bane was on the wrong side of the doors, directly behind her and hidden in the shadows. He could have been spotted if Officer Granger had bothered to look through the small window, but since he hadn’t, Bane could have easily overpowered him. 

“They really need to pay more attention,” Myra mumbled to herself as she moved away from Bane, into the inner cell and sat at the desk 

“It won’t even be difficult to get out of here,” Bane answered her unspoken question following behind, only to drop to the floor to begin a set of push-ups. 

“And please don’t creep up on me like that again,” Myra continued as if he didn’t speak. “Who knew that you could even sneak, given your stature.” 

“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” Bane said offhandedly, as if he expected her to plow right over it like she did just a second ago. And Myra could have, she wanted to, if nothing more then to fool herself into keep thinking that this strange partnership was completely normal, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to. He was right, she had no clue what this man could actually do. She had seen it, the whole world had seen it unfold before the media-blackout in Gotham, but she had been able to separate the man in front of her from the monster on the TV, if nothing more than for her own survival. 

He wasn’t here because he was innocent, but then again, neither was she. 

In that moment, she remembered what Officer Blake had told her, that he was in Gotham with Bane during that time. 

“Bane,” Myra began before she could reign in her curiosity, “do you remember anyone from Gotham?”

Bane just grunted in response, effectively telling her to not tread in that territory, continuing on as if working out with her there was the most normal thing in the world.

“Do you remember a John Blake?” Myra pushed on, ignoring the warning. With that, Bane whipped around to face her, standing up very suddenly and coming next to her, slamming a closed fist on the cement desk. Myra winced, knowing that if it were any other person, it would have hurt very much, but the anger in Bane’s eyes was not from pain. 

“How do you know that little flea’s name?” He demanded of her, and if he didn’t have the mask, she imagined that he might have spit a little bit.

“H…he works here,” Myra stuttered out, standing and trying aggressively to swallow her fear of him. “He’s a guard.”

“How do you know who he is?” Bane continued. Myra couldn’t tell if he was trying to keep his voice even for her sake or what, but with the absence of yelling, his voice took on a very menacing growl that had Myra taking a couple steps back. 

“He wanted to talk to me…about you,” Myra said in a small voice, hoping that maybe if she counteracted Bane’s large reaction with a small one, it would smooth him over just a little bit. 

“What did you say?”

“Bane, please calm down…”

“What did you say!” Bane roared at her, descending on her in a second. Myra, who was already backed up against the wall, whimpered as they were almost chest to chest. She could smell the anger on him, deepening his usual musk and she wished the cement would open up behind her and swallow her whole, saving her from whatever was about to come her way. 

“I didn’t say anything!” Myra tried to yell back, tried to sound unafraid, but her voice betrayed her when it cracked. Bane’s presence bore down on her, eyes drilling holes into hers with such ferocity that, although she had been afraid of Bane before, this was the first time she fully, consciously was aware she was constantly at the mercy of a man who she had seen kill, saw him fully prepared to die for a cause. She, of course, had known all of this before, but being close enough to see the vein bulging in his neck brought it all come crashing back to her not for some existential wonderings, but because her own life was on the line. 

Still, after what seemed like the longest few seconds of her life, Bane backed off and turned his back towards her. 

“Good,” was all he said before dropping to the floor again to continue his workout. “He was a thorn in my side, nothing more.”

“You’re fucking insane,” Myra mumbled to him, slumping down on the bed. 

OoO

It was becoming routine for Bane to call for her every day. Although it was never at night again, only during her workday when an officer would walk into the office and say she needed to come with them. The wording did scare her the first few times, that somehow the promise had been found out and she was being carted off to her own max-security cell, especially after her conversation with Officer Blake, but she ended up in Bane’s cell each time. 

Per his request, she did bring cards the next few times. He taught her a few games that were complicated and the names sounded Arabic, but Bane must have gotten bored of winning every round and asked Myra if she knew any games she was actually good at. 

“Well, I know rummy,” She answered him, swallowing her pride at being called bad at something. They sat around the small desk, Bane sitting on the cement stool and Myra perched on the far corner, shielding their cards from each other. Myra also knew poker fairly well, but they had nothing to bet and Myra doubted she would be able to win against Bane’s poker face. 

“I don’t know that one,” Bane drawled, shuffling the cards. 

“Then hand me the cards, big boy,” Myra regretted it almost the second it left her mouth. A blush bloomed across her cheeks and Bane looked at her for a second, expression unreadable, but he put the cards in her outstretched hand all the same. When his fingertips touched her palm, she snatched her hand away quickly. The last time Bane had touched her, he left a rather large bruise on her shoulder that was still a bit blue, even a week later. She had seen him throw guards around like it was nothing and just two days ago, she heard that he beat a man nearly half to death. 

She wondered why it seemed that no punishment came his way, but she had noticed by now that everyone, guards and inmates alike, gave Bane a wide berth. Yet here she was, day after day. Some days, she sensed this tension within Bane, when he wouldn’t speak much to her except in short demands. Sometimes he would punch the desk with no prompting, remaining straight-faced when Myra asked him what was wrong with him. Sometimes she noticed his left hand shaking violently, but never asked him about it. Those visits seemed to drag on, and when she left she was actually happy to get back to work. On those days, she was frightened of him even though he never necessarily directed any of that anger towards her, which only made her all the happier when he was in a good mood during her visits. She would attribute that very thing to her slip of the tongue. 

She quickly dealt out the cards and explained the rules, anxious to get her mind off of things, specifically how one particular prisoner effected her on a day-to-day basis. 

Bane lost the first round, grumbling something unintelligible as he gathered up the cards. She figured he would deal out one of his strange games, not pleased about losing. Instead, he held out the cards to her. 

“Again,” was all he said to her, staring up at her until she took the deck. 

Although, when he lost again, he threw down what was left in his hand and cursed in some language she didn’t understand. From there, he pushed away from the desk and nearly stomped over to the bed, where a book rested on his pillow. 

Myra had to stifle a laugh when he opened the book in possibly the angriest way she had ever seen. 

“Sore loser,” Myra joked at him under her breath as she gathered the cards. 

After that, Bane hadn’t wanted to play cards the rest of the day and spend most of the time reading that same book sitting on his bed. Myra sat at the desk, bored and staring out the window. Alice had told her that all the windows were specifically placed in the cells so that the inmates couldn’t figure out exactly where they were on the premises, that you couldn’t see the ground from them, only the sky. That it was supposed to keep them from figuring out how to escape or something like that. Myra idly wondered if Bane even needed to know where he specifically was, he had sounded so confident in his plan to escape each time he spoke of it. Although, he hadn’t spoke much of it since she started visiting, only when he was in a bad mood. 

She turned her attention away from window and noticed a new novel on the desk. 

“Jane Eyre?” Myra said aloud, and although she had meant to say it to herself, but it finally made Bane speak to her, kind of. 

“Mm,” Was all he grunted out.

“That’s my favorite book,” Myra said in awe, staring at the spine in wonder. For some reason, seeing this memento from her free days nearly made her cry. 

“I thought it was trite,” Was the only thing Bane offered about the novel. Pulled from her emotional state, Myra turned to him, staring at the top of his bowed head. 

“I take personal offence to that,” Myra said sullenly, feeling quite protective of the book. 

“It’s interesting how you think I care,” Came the slightly robotic response. Just as always, Myra couldn’t tell if it was a joke or just a statement, but she pushed down the bubble of laughter the statement caused. 

OoO 

A few days later, about a month since she had come to the prison, Myra was called to Bane yet again. But this time, it was very different. She was escorted to the prison, as she is most times, yet when the door to the main prison was opened, it wasn’t just loud, like it normally is. Normally, the men behind their respective cell doors would shout incoherently at the people housed near them, and she had heard it so many times by now that it no longer unnerved her as it had in the beginning. 

This time, though, she was greeted with a sight she had never hoped to see. It was obviously free time for the prisoners, every cell door was open and inmates are milling all about. It wasn’t hard to see that they clustered in groups, keeping to their own people, and as she came into the room, flanked by guards, there was a short moment where the room quieted, some of the men realizing she was there. It was only a second, though, and then the room roared back to life. She couldn’t tell if any of the comments were directed at her or not, as all the words seemed to jumble together. 

Myra stumbled along as the guards led her, steadily growing more terrified as she was led further into the array of men. She had not walked across the main room since she was first put up for auction. Yet, she was surprised to see the men giving her a wide birth and at first she assumed it was because of the presence of the guards. 

That was, until she saw him. 

Across the room, exactly to where she was being led, was Bane. He was seated at one of the round tables, facing outward. His broad arms were resting behind him, elbows resting on the tabletop. Behind him, a few seats away, two men sat next to each other, eating, and behind them were two other men, standing with arms crossed. If Myra had just seen these men by themselves, she would have figured them quiet intimidating characters, but Bane dwarfed them all. 

She saw when he noticed her, his posture becoming a little more straightened before he dropped his hands into his lap, leaning forward, staring intently at her arrival. 

“Sit her here,” Bane commanded the guards when they were close enough, jerking one large thumb to the seat next to him. The guards complied without a moment’s hesitation, leading her to the offered seat. Myra sat on her own accord, sparing a glance at the other occupants of the table, none of which were looking at her, before turning to face outward, like Bane, folding her hands in her lap and crossing her ankles demurely. He hadn’t looked at her since she sat, and Myra noticed him scanning the room, eyes sometimes resting on something for a brief second before continuing on. When he did eventually look at her out of the corner of his eye, she took her opportunity to speak. 

“Why am I here right now, Bane?” Myra asked, peaking around him at the other inmates. Most straight up ignored them, but a few brave souls would glance their way before moving on. 

“Don’t look at anyone until I tell you to,” Bane said first, going back to scanning the other inmates. Myra did as she was told and looked into her lap, thinking it was far better to follow instructions then bring any more attention to herself. “And it’s more of a demonstration than anything else.” 

Myra knitted her eyebrows together, fully intending on asking him what he meant by that, but before she could speak, Bane continued on. 

“Look over there,” Bane said, nodding his head to the left. Myra, once again, did as she was told, looking through the crowd for what Bane could have been talking about. It took a second but then she saw, a couple yards away from them another group of men sitting very similarly to how Bane and his crew were. There were about three scrawny looking guys sitting at the back of the table with two more well-formed men standing behind them. Sitting in almost the exact same spot as Bane was another large man. If Myra had never met Bane, she would have said his stature was one of the more impressive she’d ever seen, but the impossible girth of Bane had warped her standards. 

“What about them?” Myra asked and almost as soon as she had asked it, it was like the apparent leader at the other table heard her, for he turned to look at them in that exact moment. A sly smile crept across his face, one that made Myra shiver just the tiniest bit before looking away, focusing on her hands once more. 

“His name is Charles Vicelli,” Bane started to explain. “I hurt one of his men pretty badly a few days ago and I expect he’ll be wanting some sort of revenge. I figured I would give him the perfect opportunity to make a fool out of himself.”

“What do you mean?” Myra questioned again, looking up at her hulking partner. When he looked back down at her and the corner of his eyes crinkled just the smallest bit, which Myra had come to learn was his form of a smile, she realized his intent and groaned. “You mean me, don’t you? You mean he’s going to make a fool of himself because of me?”

“You’re not as dumb as you look,” Bane drawled, looking back up again, towards Vicelli. Myra did the same, looking out of the corner of her eye at the far table. She saw that they were indeed still looking towards Bane and Myra. Vicelli was now full blown smiling, and it was only a second more before the man stood, stuffed his hands in the orange prison pants and sauntered towards them, trailed by the larger faction of his group. 

“Well hey there, Bane,” Vicelli started, flashing a golden tooth down at the two of them. Bane said nothing in response, just merely looked straight ahead. “This is that new little secretary, ain’t it? Bane-y Boy here’s been hogging ya. Ya know,” Vicelli crouched down so that he was eye-level with Myra. “I normally see that little redhead, Lily. She’s a hot piece of ass, but I wouldn’t mind seeing you every now and again. That is, if the big dog here don’t mind sharing.”

At that, Vicelli reached out and traced his thumb across Myra’s jawline. Before she could shutter away, as was her intent, Bane’s foot came up as quick as lightning and kicked the man in the gut, sending him falling backwards. 

“What the fuck, man!” Vicelli shouted, clutching his chest. His group swarmed around him, but none actually approached Bane. Obviously not learning his lesson, Vicelli jumped back up and immediately grabbed Myra’s arm, jerking her to her feet. Around them, the guards took up their guns but before they could even say anything, Bane was up and grabbing Vicelli’s other arm, pulling him close and head-butting him so much force, Myra could actually hear the nose bone crack. A second later, blood spurted out of his nose. 

“God damn it!” Vicelli gurgled through the blood that was seeping into his mouth from his wound as guards rushed to them, surrounding the area and backing the other inmates away. But still, none of them even really approached Bane. 

“Perhaps you’ve finally learned your lesson,” Bane said simply as he sat back down. Myra, now free of Vicelli’s grip, went to do the same, sitting in the shadow of Bane, hoping to become as small as possible. 

“And what the fuck was that, Bane?” Vicelli shouted as he was being drug away. 

“Stop going for things that aren’t yours,” Bane answered him, looking as casual as ever, as if what just happened was the most normal thing in the world. 

For one brief second, they were left alone as the guards escorted Vicelli out, presumably to the infirmary. Myra glanced behind her at Bane’s men, who were looking just as unfazed as Bane was. 

“I hope you didn’t mean me when you said ‘things that are yours’,” Myra mumbled at him. 

“I meant control of the prison, you’re just an added bonus.”

Myra couldn’t control the blush that spread across her face, but luckily, she didn’t have to face it for too long. A guard finally approached them, stopping several feet away. 

“Bane, when Vicelli gets done, it’s going to be your time to go get your meds,” The guards spoke confidently, but still refused to look at him in the eye. 

“Very well,” Bane said, resting his elbows on his knees once more. “Take her back first.” Bane put a hand on the small of Myra’s back and pushed her up and towards the guard. 

“You need medicine?” Myra asked before the guard came up to her. 

“What else do you think the mask is for?” Was the curious answer given before she was escorted away, even more vigorously ignored by the other inmates than before. 

OoO

Myra finished out her workday without anything truly noteworthy happening, which is just fine by her. The only thing that might have counted was about an hour after she had returned from Bane, when Jeff and three men in lab coats came through the office, only going into the warden’s office and shutting the door behind them. She wondered if they had just been with Bane, doling out the medicine he said he needed. 

Through the mask. The mask that Myra had kept herself from thinking too much about. It just seemed natural that he would have it, it seemed so much like a part of him. But now that she knew that part of him was to…administer medication? She still was very confused about the whole thing. She made a note to ask Bane more about it later, but truly doubted he would open up to her about the state of his health. After all, he’s told her so little about himself. Really, she only knew that he could speak a couple languages, that he ‘has had homes more threatening’ then the prison, and now that he needs medication. However, Myra was now able to draw the conclusion that he was allowed to keep his mask for medicinal purposes. 

“You really need to start focusing on your work,” Alice scolded her later that afternoon, when Myra failed once more to complete the day’s tasks. “You’ve been hanging out with Bane too much.” 

“It’s not like she has a choice, Alice,” Lily started on Myra’s behalf, before Myra interjected. 

“I’ll get it done.” Myra said in a clipped voice. 

“You always say that…”

“Alice!” Lily cut the blonde off in an unusually agitated voice. “You know what it is like sometimes.”

Alice and Lily just looked at each other for a moment, both of their expressions deadly serious. It seemed like Lily did win, though, when Alice looked away with a sigh. 

“I know,” Alice said through a clenched jaw. “But she’ll have to get over it soon, it’s only going to keep happening.”

Myra has long since learned that Lily and Alice will talk about her like she is not in the room and has also long since learned to ignore them, even as Alice’s condescending tone rubs her the completely wrong way. She failed to see why she needed to get her work done, since she was going to just be coming back tomorrow. Bane had been taking up quite a bit of her time, but like Lily said, it’s not like she has much of a choice. She’s practically taken there at gunpoint. 

The trio is escorted home just minutes later, like they are every day. This day, there is very little talking when they get home; the TV goes on and a frozen pizza goes in the oven almost immediately. Alice, like she does almost every night, opens a bottle of wine and pours out three glasses. Lily simply takes hers and sets it back down, fully intending not to drink any of it, while Myra takes her and drains half the glass in one go. 

“Thirsty?” Alice asks innocently as she daintily sips her wine. 

“Very,” Myra says in return, slumping down on the couch and flipping through the stations.   
Lily, meanwhile, retreats into the bathroom and soon the sound of a shower starts up. The two girls sipped in silence for a minute, the air thick with tension before Alice slid down into the seat next to Myra with a small huff. 

They fell into a comfortable silence, with a reality show playing that Myra had no real interest in, but was enough to keep her mind occupied. After a while, she was slouching into the cushions, chin propped up on her hand and eyes getting heavy. Just as she was about to doze, the shrill ringing of the phone sounded throughout the apartment. Lily, who had long since decided to hang out in the bedroom by herself, popped her head out to watch Alice get up and quickly make her way to the kitchen to pick up the phone, as seemed to be her usual job. 

“Hey sweetheart!” Alice said in that sickly sweet voice of hers. “Of course she can. Okay, we’ll have her out in just a minute.” 

She hung up and not a second later, she turned to face the couch. 

“You’re up, M. Boyfriend’s callin’ for you.” 

Myra groaned softly, having gotten really used to not being called at night. The other two sometimes got a nightly call, but never Myra. Not since the first night. While she mildly wondered why he was calling her at this hour, she didn’t worry about it too much, assuming it was to keep up appearances. 

Since she had never changed out of her dress, she was already prepared to leave when the car came a minute later, she just didn’t want to put the heels back on again. The car ride into the supermax campus was as short as it always was, but it was the first time since her very first day in the compound that she had made the journey alone. She thought idly how she would normally be turning in right about now, with her belly full of pizza and wine. 

A night guard she didn’t recognize guided her through the various doors and corridors into the main prison, barely acknowledging that Officer Blake stood at the last door to the inner prison, not even saying hello. 

They silently made their way up the staircase and she waited patiently outside of Bane’s door as the guard pressed the buttons and she heard the inner door close, seconds later followed by the outer door opening. She walked in without needed to be prompted, and didn’t even say goodbye to the guard and he closed the door behind her. Her eyes were adjusting much quicker these days and she could see Bane across the room, near the window with his back towards her. 

As the barred door opened, she casually walked in. 

“Hey Bane, what’s up?” Myra asked. 

Instead of answering, Bane turned to look at her and although his face was hidden in the shadow, she could feel his aura. This wasn’t going to be one of his ‘good mood’ visits. Now she was able to wonder if it was due to his medication, but she didn’t really have time to analyze it. Still not talking to her, Bane stalked over to the desk, planting his palms onto the surface. 

“Seriously, Bane, what’s up?” Myra said again, keeping her tone light. She didn’t quite know what to do with herself. Even when Bane got in his moods, he would at least give her something to entertain herself with. In that moment, she noticed something was off about her partner, even more off than usual. 

His eyes weren’t the normal clear brown, calculated and thoughtful. They were clouded, unfocused and dangerous. His breath came out in short spurts, dragged out by his mask and sounding harsh, even more robotic than usual. She noticed his knuckles were turning white, he was gripping the desk so hard. It was to the point she would not be at all surprised if when he took his hands away, there would be little intends where his fingers were. And yet, he would not look away from her. 

“Bane,” Myra repeated, trying very hard to keep her voice calm, despite the fear rising in her. Fear she had not felt in weeks in Bane’s presence. “Are you okay?”

It was a dumb question, she knew. He looked anything other than okay, which was only emphasized when he let loose a low growl. 

“Why do you ask so many questions?” Bane spat out, punching each word in turn. Myra subconsciously took a step backwards. He had been in moods around her before, but this was no mood. This is almost a completely different person. 

“Bane, please calm…”

“Shut up!” Bane roared. “For once, shut up!” With that, Bane let go of the desk and stormed toward Myra, who quickly stumbled over her own two feet in an effort to backup before he got to her. She would have fallen, but Bane quickly grabbed her arm, yanking her up and close to him. The angry musk from a month ago was back, and she was being suffocated by it in that moment. “Always asking questions, always…there! Here!”

“You ask me to be here,” Myra reminded him, still trying to keep her voice calm even as she cowers, as if somehow, her talking normally (or trying to) will snap him out of whatever rage-trance he was in. 

“You’re right,” Bane said, voice dipping to an eerily low tenor which managed to freak Myra out even more than him yelling. Myra only managed a small whimper before being tossed down with so much force, her head hit the wall with a small bang. Distantly, she wondered if the guards were going to come and save her like the last time, when Bane was only pretending to hurt her. If she thought she was frightened then, she didn’t even know the correct words for what she felt now. 

It might have been the growing bump on her head, but she realized seconds later that she had been thrown down onto the bed. Terror choked her in that moment, clutching her head and wearily watching Bane, who was looming over her. 

“Are you aware how lucky you have been, Myra?” Bane asked, clearly rhetorically, her name dripping with resentment. Myra quickly nodded, scooting as far away from the man as she could. 

“You see,” Bane continued, voice still menacingly low and he leaned down to place his palms on the mattress. “I don’t think you do. You have been living quite a charmed little life here, haven’t you? You’ve made some friends,” with that, with that same lightning fast quickness that he kicked Vicelli with, Bane reached out and grabbed her ankle, tugging her towards him. “Been nice and safe, cocooned in my protection. What would you do if I were to get bored?” 

He bore down on her, hands on either side of her face, her legs trapped between his huge thighs. He brought his face as close to hers as it has ever been, the grated mask barely an inch from her lips. 

“Well I’m getting bored, Myra,” Bane said, now in barely a whisper, “And I am sure you are well aware what the other men do in here when they get bored and have as much access to one of you girls as I do.”

As if to punctuate his sentence, he pushed himself down on her, nearly crushing her under his weight. Bane pushed his face into her neck, digging his mask into her skin hard enough she let out an audible noise of pain. All that was forgotten, though, when she felt a weight on her inner thigh and although considerably larger than the last time she had felt that, it was unmistakable what it was. 

Bane was angry, on top of her, and hard. 

“Get off of me!” Myra screamed the second her brain was able to process her situation. She bucked under him in a futile attempt to get the mass of man on top of her, only to feel him throb under his thin orange pants. Bane sat up then and used one arm to press across her chest, holding her down. His free hand went to her knees, hooking her dress under his thumbs and dragging it up over her hips, letting the fabric pool on her belly. 

“Stop it!” Myra yelled again, trying to reach for her dress to tug it back down, only to have both of her wrists gathered up by one large hand, which then pinned them above her head. Tears welled up in her eyes, slipping out and down her face without Myra even really realizing it, and her teeth grit together as her underwear was ripped off in one foul swoop. 

“Bane, please stop,” Myra choked out through a sob, eyes tightly closed as if she could drown out the world around her. 

With those words, it was like a switch flicked in Bane’s brain. In less than a second, he was off of her, in the furthest corner of the cell. It took Myra a second to figure out what happened, and when she realized that she was no longer being held down and the feeling was slowly returning to her fingers, she shot up and out of that bed, yanking down her skirt and whipping away the tears that were still falling down. As she stood there, panting and looking down at the roughed up bed, completed by a pair of ripped black panties, the terror inside of her slowly turned to rage. 

“How…how dare you,” Myra spat at Bane’s back, turning to face him. He remained silent, back to her. Good, she thought, he didn’t deserve to look at her. 

“Prisoner 509, step away from the door,” the intercom sounded. 

Of course, Myra thought, they couldn’t come five minutes ago when he was clearly roughing her up, but as soon as it is done, here they are. It’s almost like they planned it. 

Bane did as he was told, still not looking at Myra as he moved to another corner. Myra quickly bypassed him, getting close to the steel door so that the barred door can close behind her. Before it opened though, she turned to look once more at the giant who had attacked her. 

“Don’t you ever call on me again. You’re a monster,” Myra spat a Bane with all the anger she was feeling, with every ounce of resentment. 

Seconds later, she found herself storming down the hall, followed by Officer Will. He didn’t ask her anything, clearly knowing what was best for both of them. 

She made it down the stairs in record time and waited for Officer Will to punch in the code to get them out of the prison, not waiting a second more when the door swung open. On the other side of the door stood Officer Blake, casually leaning against the wall. At first, Myra didn’t spare him a second glance, but in the very next moment, she paused mid-step. 

“You know what, go ahead Officer Will,” Myra said with determination, “I’ll be back in a moment.” 

“Oh,” Officer Will said with a bit of surprise. “Okay.”

When we went through the next secured door, Myra turned on her heel and marched up to John Blake, who only looked at her with mild interest. 

“What’s up?” He asked her casually. 

“About Bane,” Myra began, “I’ll tell you everything I know.”


	5. Just A Little Too Much

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the comments and kudos. I'm sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but this is the one that's really going to get the plot rolling (finally, right?). Anyway, lots of stuff is coming up here so I hope you enjoy this one enough to stick around.

“About Bane,” Myra began, “I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“I’m listening,” Was all John said in return, barely even looking at her. Myra rolled her eyes, figuring that he was just trying to keep up this nonchalant attitude he had going when in the prison. 

“Can we talk somewhere private?” Myra asked through her teeth, glancing up at the camera in the corner that was pointed right at them. Her rage had yet to simmer down, and even though that Bane could not endure the grunt of her anger, she wasn’t above pinning it on someone else. Especially if that ‘someone else’ was a frustrating security guard who, admittedly, was the one who had warned her to not get too close to Bane. In fact, it was almost right after that conversation that she had started to think of Bane as her friend. An illusion that was now thoroughly shattered. 

“I have to stay here, I’m on duty,” John reminded her, adjusting the gun slung across his back for effect. 

“Fine, whatever,” Myra threw her hands in the air in very obvious frustration before bringing one up to comb through her now very tangled hair. “Bane’s planning to escape.”

“And?” John said, obviously interested and wanting more information, which she didn’t exactly have. Myra’s grand plan of getting back at Bane was crumbling fast, which must have been written all over her face. 

“That’s it?” John questioned her, laughing a little bit. He was still smiling his soft little smile that showed his dimples, but Myra couldn’t help but think that he was laughing at her. “Of course he is! Why wouldn’t he? I think everyone is, in a way, although I could see him being the one to actually achieve it…” 

Myra was still too embarrassed to speak up. Later, she would come to realize that John wasn’t making fun of her, but at the time her cheeks burned and the tears she sucked up after her encounter with Bane came forth again. 

“Hey, hey there,” John said in a small voice when he noticed how upset she was, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I didn’t mean anything by it. Thanks for letting me know; I knew you were a good kid. If you find out anything else, let me know okay?” 

All Myra could bring herself to do was nod before turning on her heel, nearly running away from him. Myra would later curse herself for being that emotional, but the weight of Bane’s actions weighed down on her. 

Luckily, there was already a car waiting for her to take her back to the apartment, where the driver dropped her off without a word. Myra was more than glad for that though, since the tears hadn’t stopped streaming down her face since she let them go in front of John.  
She used all of her might not to slam the car door behind her as she got out, first wanting nothing more than to be inside where she was safe but after punching in the code for the first door and walking into the foyer, she paused. In front of her stood the door to her apartment, where two girls were inside. She could hear the TV going and the muffled sounds of their voices and she suddenly couldn’t bring herself to face them. The other girls weren’t necessarily her friends by any means, and the thought of coming in with her compromised state…she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. 

Instead, Myra turned with her back to the door and slumped to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees and burying her head in them. From the time she had left Bane’s room until that moment, she didn’t allow herself to think about what happened. Why it happened. Bane had never even so much as looked at her in any particular way, discounting annoyance. He even so much as said he doesn’t desire her in the least. Nor did he seem like the kind of guy that would just do it for the control. But now she admitted to herself that she couldn’t pick apart the mind of a rapist, as hard as it was to put that word on someone she would have called a tentative friend. 

But she couldn’t forget that look in his eyes. Or, she supposed, the lack there of. Normally, there is so much thought and calculation in those brown eyes, but they were so empty-glazed over even. And then there was that switch, when her voice seemed to finally get through to him, when the thought returned to his eyes. She wasn’t making any excuses for him, she didn’t even want to, but something was so off about him that she couldn’t shake. 

Myra nearly stumbled backwards when the door suddenly opened behind her. Looking down on her was Alice, long blond hair undone and pajamas on.

“Jesus Christ,” Alice said in a near whisper, with none of the malice that she had come to expect from the blond, “What happened to you?” 

Myra expected she could see the bruising that no doubt crept up her neck from when Bane handled her shoulder with his paw of a hand, not to mention how crumpled and tear stricken she was. At her question, Myra couldn’t stop herself from letting a small sob out. Even when, moments ago, she was trying to rationalize Bane’s behavior, the tears hadn’t stopped flowing and to have Alice’s attention on her, wondering what had happened, she couldn’t stop herself from breaking down. 

“Christ,” Alice breathed out again, crouching down to Myra’s level to try and pull her up. “Come on girl, let’s get you inside.” 

Alice helped haul Myra up to her feet before the pair stumbled into the apartment and Alice closed the door behind them with her foot, never taking her arms off on Myra. This comfort coming from the last person she expected, Myra couldn’t stop herself from asking “How..did..you..know..I..was..here…” From between sobs. 

“We could hear the door close, silly,” Alice said, guiding her to the couch. Lily had come out from the bathroom, freshly showered with her red ringlets still dripping water, only to rush over to them. 

“Oh my god…”Lily said remorsefully, “we have to get her out of these clothes, see how bad it is.” Lily said to Alice as if Myra wasn’t even there. 

“I’m(hiccup)okay…”Myra tried to say, eyes screwed tightly shut to try and keep her tears back and hands folded in her lap in a lame attempt to appear casual. 

“Hey,” Lily addressed Myra in her comforting, small voice, “It’s happened to us too. We just want to make sure you’re okay. Now, get out of your dress and let us see…”

Moments later, they had stripped her down to her underwear, granting her Alice’s silk robe to wear to keep her modesty a bit. The angriest bruising was on her hips, but a perfect handprint was forming around her ankle as well. Her shoulder was just large, but the color was much better than the others.

“Myra, we need to know how bad it is…”Lily said gently after the two had poked around and made sure nothing was broken. Her eyes slid lower, and Myra knew exactly what she was talking about. 

“He didn’t actually…” Although she was able to say the word to herself earlier, saying out loud just didn’t seem possible. Her crying had stopped, starting to feel comforted by the girls’ concern, but it threatened to start again when she was forced to talk. 

“You mean he didn’t…?” Lily also couldn’t seem to bring herself to say it. Myra only nodded furiously, closing the robe around herself. 

“Well, at least that’s good,” Alice said with finality, standing up from her position of looking at Myra’s ankle. Before she knew it, Myra was covered in a big blanket, a stiff dark drink in her hand, and squished between the two other girls as they watched reruns of Bridezilla’s. This feeling of community and comradery between them was something that Myra hadn’t actually felt before. She had always been the outsider, but strangely, thanks to a horrible event, she was brought closer to these two girls who had undergone the same event at some point before. 

All too soon though, Myra was yawning and her body was begging for sleep. She excused herself, leaving her drink half full on the coffee table which earned a look from the other two; Myra never left a drink undrunk. Alice and Lily were both still wide awake, Lily going to pour them another drink before saying that they were going to stay up longer. So, alone, Myra made her way to the bedroom.  
In the first moments that the light came on, Myra ambled into the room, letting loose a yawn that had her jaw cracking. But as her face was settling back to normal, she was almost screamed when she noticed a man sitting on her bed. Well, she most definitely would have screamed if it wasn’t for the man who, in the same second she noticed him, sprang off the bed and was on her in a second, covering her mouth with his hand. 

“Please,” He said in a thick accented whisper, “I’m begging you not to scream. I am here because of Bane. 

Myra’s previously sedated anger reared to life again, replacing her fear for a few seconds and bringing her to struggle out of his grip. If he had actually wanted to restrain her, she was certain that he could, especially with her brain being slightly foggy from the drink. 

“What do you want?” Myra hissed at him.

“My name is Barsad, I’m one of Bane’s men,” The brown haired man quickly explained in a low voice, raising his hands in surrender, “I’m here to help.”

“Oh fucking great,” Myra said in return, throwing her hands up, “Just who I wanted to see.”

“You’re the one who’s been helping him out, correct? I was told that it was a brunette…” The man, Barsad, sat back down on her bed, looking at Myra as if he wanted her to explain everything to him in that moment. 

“I’m not helping him out with shit anymore,” Myra spat out, momentarily forgetting that she should be afraid of this stranger that just shows up in her room, which was located on a highly secure military base. 

“So it was you?”

“Yes! Jesus Christ,” Myra seethed at him, funneling all her anger towards Bane on this stranger. 

“I'm glad, having you be with him will be a great help to us,” Barsad said back to her, either not catching her tone or straight up ignoring it. 

“Us?” Myra couldn’t stop herself from questioning, arms coming uncrossed. 

“What, did you think you were the only one that was working on this?” This, she figured, being Bane’s eventual escape. 

“I told you, I’m not helping him with shit anymore,” Myra snapped again, suddenly realizing she was still in a thin, short robe in front of a man she had never met before and suddenly felt very exposed. Quickly, she went to the closet and pulled out a pair of pajama pants. Turned away from the man, she quickly slipped them on, using the robe as a sort of curtain between her modesty and him. Tying the robe tightly shut again, she turned back to Barsad, demanding why he was still there. 

“You will help us. Why are you insisting otherwise, when he has already put so much trust in you?” Barsad asked, not coming any closer to her, but staring at her with intent. 

“Why? Because that bastard just thinks he can use me however he wants,” Myra said in a harsh whisper, coming closer to Barsad so the girls wouldn’t hear them. 

“What do you mean by that?” 

“I mean he tried to… tried to…” Myra still couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud, looking away and hoping that Barsad would just understand. She couldn't understand why she didn’t just scream for the other girls to come in, why she was even humor Barsad the way that she was. She rationalized that she had done so to relieve herself of any responsibility she still had towards Bane, especially if he still would protect her from other inmate without calling upon her. 

“He wouldn’t do that,” Barsad said with finality, as if that was the most ridiculous thing that he had ever heard. 

“Look, I don’t know who you are or why I should even be telling you any of this, but I assure you that it did happen,” Myra nearly hissed at him. 

“Then he must have been drugged,” Barsad concluded as if that was the most rational thing in the world. 

“Excuse me?” Myra reeled back. 

“Something must be happening to him here that he is unwilling to tell you, and through you me, about and considering we are his greatest allies, he must be convinced that he can handle this alone. 

You have to understand, he has been the subject of experimental drugs since before I knew him, which has been quite a while now. This would not surprise me in the least.” 

“You’re the one I’ve contacted, aren’t you?” Myra asked, the realization suddenly dawning on her and stomping down the pity that brewed in her heart over the thought of Bane being some sort of guinea pig

“No. Like I said, there are a few of us here. But I will be the one you contact now,” With that, Barsad threw a small black cellphone at her. She recognized the kind of phone right away, as it was one that her old boyfriend used quite a bit. A burner. 

“I told you, I’m not helping him anymore,” Myra said in an even voice, this conversation with this stranger making her even more tired. She attempted to hand the phone back to him, only to have him push the phone back. 

“I’m begging you, although it may not seem like much, Bane needs someone like you. He has lost someone very close to him that he could protect, and for now you fill that void. Not only that, but you could be key in getting him out of there. Our organization has been without a leader for too long now. In return, I promise we will greatly reward you. I know that seems like a hollow promise, but we have connections in more places than you can imagine. There was a reason that the United States government did not intervene in Gotham.”

Barsad looked down on her with such intensity, one that reminded her so much of Bane that it hurt. 

“I can promise you as well that the man that attacked you was not the man I know,” Barsad continues. 

“You have to promise me that when he does get out of here, I get out too,” Myra finally said, coming up with her terms. It wasn’t necessarily she wanted to become a fugitive of the law, but moreso that she wasn’t going to be left in this hellhole without her protection. And Barsad did just insinuate that they had government connections, meaning there was always the chance she could be pardoned officially. 

“It’s a deal,” Barsad accepted with a small nod. “Please let Bane know I’m here. I’ll call you when I need you.” 

With that, Barsad went to the window, silently opened it, and hauled himself out. With his disappearance, Myra rushed over and peeked her head out. Looking up then down, she saw nothing and for the first time since coming to ADX-F, she really did wonder what sort of organization Bane was actually a part of that members could just disappeared like that. During the siege on Gotham, no one really cared to know more than if they were a terrorist organization or not. And while they very much were during that time, it was now obvious that wasn’t the full extent of it. 

Questions reeling in her head, Myra finally settled into bed and, even though it could have been very easy to let those questions consume her during the night, the events of the day had exhausted her. She didn’t even wake up when the other two girls turned in for the night. 

0o0

The next morning was the same as any other, the girls dressed and slapped some makeup on their face. Alice pulled Lily’s hair into a braid for her while Myra just barely ran a brush through hers before the call came that the car was waiting for them. 

There was a bit of anxiety for Myra as they made their way up to the prison, that possibly Bane would want to see her right away, even though she expressly said to him never to again. And while she had changed her mind ever so slightly having accepted being called to Bane with his one-off was better than going to a person where that behavior was the norm, he didn’t know it. 

Throughout the morning, Myra debated with herself whether it would be relieving if Bane should call on her or insulting, being that the last they saw each other she demanded otherwise. She could pass on Barsad’s message, once again being the middleman for Bane, but then there had to be some sort of arrogance to him for him to think it was okay to do so. 

She was angrily typing away on her computer, each hypothetical event she came up with being a double edged sword. About an hour into work, Myra noticed Lily looking at her wearily out of the corner of her eye, watching as Myra was grumbling to herself. 

Luckily, if Lily was planning on saying anything she never got the chance. Warden Jeff Daniels burst into the office with a large smile on his face, his short, plump body wearing the same brown suit that Myra was now certain that he wore every day. In his hands was a tray of coffees, which he distributed amongst the girls as they said their greetings. 

“Thank you so much Jeff,” Alice nearly crooned, sipping daintily. Lily responded much the same, setting the drink off to the side. As Jeff came to Myra though, he set the coffee down on the desk rather than putting it in her outstretched hand. 

“Can I talk to you for a moment, Miss Myra?” The warden asked, smile never wavering. Her stomach dropped then, all sorts of scenarios running through her head. Her thoughts immediately went to Barsad, to John, that she had been found out. 

Still, she stood, gave him a small smile. “Of course,” she tried to say evenly as she followed him to his office. 

“Have a seat, Myra,” Jeff said pleasantly, shutting the door behind them. On the far wall, there was a simple desk that was identical to her own with two folding chairs in front of them. They were clearly worn, the already thin cushions on them indented from wear. Behind the desk were two pictures, one of the current president and one of the one before them. Both of their eyes seemed to bore down on the folding chairs, as if the person who sat in them was being interrogated by not only Jeff, but two of the leaders of the free world. 

She did as she was asked, sitting in one of the chairs and folding her hands in her lap. Even as she tried to put on a straight face, her heart was going a mile a minute. John had ratted her out as an accomplice to Bane, keeping his plan a secret for so long. Someone found out about the midnight visit from one of his men. Any minute now, Barsad would be hauled through the door and thrown at her feet in a bloody, beaten mess, and her fate would be much the same not long after. As much as she feverishly wished she had done otherwise, she continued to help Bane and now it would become her downfall. 

“Do you know why I asked you to come in today?” Jeff asked her, coming around to perch on the edge of his desk to face her. 

“I…I have an inkling,” Myra replied honestly, keeping her eyes down. 

“Yes,” Jeff began again, keeping his gaze on her. “About the little…episode…that Prisoner 509 exhibited yesterday.”

“Oh!” Myra said in surprise. Although it shouldn’t have come as such a shock, thoughts of it had plagued her since it happened, but it really was the last thing she expected Warden Daniels to talk to her about, considering she’s gathered that a rape (or attempted, in her case) really wasn’t that abnormal here.

“You sound surprised,” Jeff observed, leaning in a little closer to her. 

“It’s just…I didn’t expect…” Myra didn’t quite know how to continue without insulting the man. And she expected saying ‘Well, I didn’t think it was that uncommon to be assaulted in this prison, especially when you allow three women to be literally locked in with the most dangerous men in the country’ would be slightly offensive. 

“Look, I know what happened was very scary for you,” Jeff said, freeing her of having to explain herself and while she appreciated that, she did not appreciate his condescending tone. “At your word, you will never even have to see him again.”

“I would prefer…” Myra started, only to be cut off. 

“Even though he is fulfilling his end of the bargain quite well, disbanding Vicelli’s men being the latest conquest of his. Well, other than you of course,” Jeff tried to joke with her, placing a hand on her knee. Myra’s eyes shot up to meet his, face settling in a glare before she could stop it from doing so, the joke not amusing her in the least. 

“You do know he didn’t actually…”

“Oh Myra,” He cut her off once again, tutting at her. “You know what I mean. But you do know the deal Bane has worked out with me in order to spend time with you, right?”

“I…”

“Breaking up the gangs in this prison is something I haven’t been able to do alone, so having guy on the inside is more than I could have asked for. It took so little time for him to make such progress too. I’m quite impressed.” As Jeff was talking, he moved from the desk to sit next to Myra in the chair beside hers. “As such, I am…hesitant…to fall short on giving him what he has asked for in return. Namely, you.”

So that’s what his deal was, Myra thought waywardly. He said he was going to break up the prison gangs. Myra nearly snorted out loud. She remembered quite clearly the men that Bane had surrounded himself with when she was called to him during the prison ‘free time’; he was creating his own gang. But the little stunt he pulled with Vicelli, the apparent leader of another gang, must have really dampened any power that the smaller man had, enough so that she could guess Bane was going about this by brute force alone. Which, now that she thought about it, counted for a lot of the fights she had heard he was involved in. 

“And so,” Jeff continued, cutting through her thoughts, “Unless you are so obstinate to not returning to him, I would appreciate it if he and I could keep our little agreement.” 

Myra, although she had decided the night before that she would continue to see Bane (even if it was the direct result of Barsad begging her to), she wasn’t exactly excited about it. Something about him was seriously wrong last time. He had expressed that he had no desire for her in almost an insulting way previously, so what had triggered the sudden switch? This was a question that had gone unanswered and she would not feel comfortable until it was. Even if Barsad's theory about the drugs was true, it wasn't exactly comforting information. 

Apparently, she took too long to respond because Jeff gave a really long sigh and stood, pulling Myra up with him by the wrist. He faced her and held at arms length, staring in her eyes long enough to make Myra very, very uncomfortable. 

“Um…”Myra started, looking away from him and giving a weak attempt to break out of his grasp before continuing. “It’s really okay.”

Jeff just gripped her shoulders a little tighter before letting one shoulder go and bringing that hand to her chin, bringing her gaze up to his. 

“You might be young, Myra, but you are being brave during this and I appreciate that,” Jeff said softly, in such a way that made Myra want to rip out of his grasp and get out of that office. Moreover, she felt anything other than brave. She felt like she was just some girl caught up in a game between the law and criminals, and no side was in the right. 

Before she was able to say anything else, Jeff had lowered himself onto her, enveloping her lips in a wet, ugly kiss. Myra froze, unable to process any sort of reaction. What pulled Myra out of her shock was when Jeff tried to prod his tongue into her mouth, which she kept firmly shut. She put both hands on his chest and attempted to push him away. Instead, Jeff whirled Myra around and pushed her up against his desk, placing both legs on either side of her hips to firmly keep her in place. He again tried to get into her mouth, but Myra held firm. Instead of being deterred, the Warden instead brought a hand from her shoulders, which were now definitely bruised even further, and placed it on her breast, massaging it lightly with the tips of his fingers. 

At that, even though shock still overwhelmed her, Myra used all of her limited strength to push him away from her. When pushing him away didn’t work, when he pushed into her further, Myra acted on instinct. She doesn’t know when she decided she would do it, when her body acted without her permission, but her arm swung out anyway, fist balled up, and right as he was trying to force her mouth open once more, she decked with all of her might, catching his jaw and effectively ending the kiss. 

Jeff reeled back, clutching his jaw. 

“What the fuck!” the Warden yelled at her, glaring at her furiously. 

“No, what the fuck to you!” Myra shouted back, her voice cracking. Anger washed over her, relieving her of the shock. Her boss just tried to get to second base with her and a blush covered her cheeks at the violation of decorum. “How dare you?”

“What?” Jeff flung his hands up as if he were the most innocent person in the world. “The girls didn’t tell you? I told them to fill you in on everything.” 

“I’m sorry, I must have missed the lesson where my boss was allowed to sexually assault me!” Myra couldn’t stop herself from responding in such a way. A part of her knew this could be bad for her, even rejecting him could be bad for her, but she just couldn’t bring herself to allow it to happen.

“Oh Myra,” Jeff said in a low voice as an eerie smile spread across his face, coming close to her again. “I'm not your boss. I'm your warden, your keeper. What are you going to do about it, anyway? Have you forgotten I basically own you? You’re here because I said you could be,” He grabbed her by the chin, painfully hard. “Otherwise you would be in some cell yourself. Now be a good girl and do as I…” 

Myra couldn’t stop herself once more, when she saw his face coming close hers again, her hands came up on their own to push him away with all her might. Jeff didn’t even take a second to recover, descending on her again. Instead of going for her face, he brought a single hand up to the back of her head, gripping her hair and yanking, nearly bringing her to her knees with the pain of it. 

“You dumb, druggy bitch,” Jeff seethed at her, dragging her up to eye level with him. She could feel small hairs ripping out her scalp. “You stupid fucking whore. You get friendly with that monstrosity, but you can’t take just one little kiss? You’re lucky I let you come here.”

“You’re hurting me…” Myra started, hands going up to try and get his off of her, only to have him grip just a little bit harder and jerk her down once more. 

“Not so tough without that big fucking terrorist protecting you, huh?” That slimy smile was back, but the look in Jeff’s eye was what scared her the most. When people say that a person has ‘crazy eyes’, she now knew exactly what that meant. They nearly bugged out of his head, with a look that could have been described as predatory if there were any sort of desire in them. Instead, they flamed with anger.

“Bane’s going to kill you the first chance he gets,” Myra spat out. “Especially after I tell him about this.” She knew she was talking out of her ass, Myra didn’t even know if Bane would even care and she couldn’t see why he would, but she just wanted the warden to let her go and was willing to say anything she needed to in order to get him away from her. 

Instead, something inside of Jeff flared even brighter. Without missing a beat, without saying another word, and without letting her go, he whipped around and stormed out of the office, dragging her with him by her hair. He threw the door open, stopped through office. Both Alice and Lily were still there, typing away. Myra didn’t get a chance to notice their reaction, as she was pulled too quickly along, but if she had been able to look, she would have seen Lily quickly stand up as if to help only to be pulled back into her chair by Alice, who gave the small redhead a look of warning. 

Jeff continued to pull Myra through the hall, with every guard they passed looking the other way. They didn’t even have to wait at the doors like Myra normally did to get inside the main prison. Instead, the guards practically rushed ahead to open them for him. 

Inside the small space between the hall and the prison itself, John Blake stood at the guard, right where Myra left him only yesterday. In different circumstances, Myra would have laughed at how many different, yet sickingly similar things, were happening to her in such a short amount of time. She did not have the time to think about it though, because as Officer Black saw her he, like all the others, seemed to know exactly what the warden wanted and immediately had the door open. For one split second, Myra thought she saw sympathy on his face but that thought, as with all others, were thrown out when the final door was opened. 

She should have known, at least been able to guess, what Warden Daniels was dragging her into, and she could blame it on the shock of being carted around by the nape of her neck, but she was hauled into a prison that was teeming with free roaming inmates. The last time that had happened to her, she was flanked by protective guards, being lead towards someone who, even if he had hurt her not long ago, she truly believed would not let anyone else hurt her. This time, she was being dragged in by her hair, degraded by the man she had been basically handed to by her lawyer and the courts. Even the inmates they passed looked surprised. 

Jeff quickly brought her to the center of the room, where she was first put onto the auction block before stopping. As he stopped, he flung Myra away from her, causing her to fall on her hands and knees. In front of her, inches from her nose, gathered a group of inmates that seemed anxious to know what was going on. 

“Gentlemen,” Jeff called out, straightening his shirt that had come untucked in the process of bringing her there, “I’m sure you remember our new girl. Due to some…circumstances, she needs to be taught a lesson. For the next hour, she’s free game. Neither my guards nor I will stop you. Have at it.”

With that, without sparing her one more glance, Warden Daniels turned on his heel and marched out of the prison, surrounded by his guards. Suddenly, Myra felt very claustrophobic, feeling all the bodies so close to her. She was acutely aware that she was virtually surrounded and the danger she was in. 

Myra knew what Jeff was trying to do. He is saying to her that if she would have just accepted his advances, she wouldn’t be at the mercy of the advances of the criminals the building housed. She disobeyed, and now here she was. Her scull was still pulsing in pain and now her knees and palms were scrapped up from being thrown to the ground, but all that ceased to matter when she was hauled to her feet by an all too familiar face. 

Vicelli towered over her, his nose much more crooked then it was last time she had seen him. His grip on her arm was bruising and whatever bravery she felt when facing the warden vanished from her, causing her to nearly hiccup with fear. 

“Well look what we’ve got here,” Vicelli started in his over exaggerated Italian-American accent, “Look’s like Bane’s little ride is open to the public.” 

“Let me go,” Myra tried to say in a strong, authoritative voice, but her fear betrayed her when her vice cracked, causing the men around her to break out in a laugh. She was beyond done with men handling her like their plaything, but her lack of strength wouldn't allow her to fully fight back.

“I don’t think so, princess,” Vicelli smirked at her, breathing on her with his horrible, pungent breath. “You heard the warden…” 

To the other inmate’s credit, it wasn’t a free-for-all that she had anticipated. They weren’t grabbing at her with abandon, although quite a few sat around to watch Vicelli do so. And whatever score he wished to settle with Bane he was taking out on Myra right then. 

Within seconds, he had a hand up her dress, grabbing at her ass. Even as Myra tried to wriggle away, yelling out for any help, Vicelli took from the warden’s notebook and grabbed at her hair. 

“Why don’t we go back to my place, sugar?” Vicelli announced, starting to tug Myra away with him. 

“I don’t think that will be very smart of you,” came the familiar, metallic drawl that almost had Myra crying in relief. To think that just that morning she wasn’t certain if she was ready to see Bane or not, and now she had never been happier to see anyone. 

With his actual prize in sight, Vicelli dropped Myra without ceremony and, if possible, Vicelli’s wild smile got even bigger. 

“You caught me by surprise last time, big guy,” Vicelli said to Bane, cracking his knuckles. “I owe you an ass whoppin’.” 

Bane looked almost bored, arms folded over his broad chest and the sun glinting off the snarling mask. He hadn’t even spared Myra a glance since she was released from Vicelli’s grip, and with him there, none of the other inmates would look at her either. 

Without any further preamble, Vicelli rushed forward with a balled fist, swinging it back with every intent on landing one across Bane’s face. Instead, Bane caught it in his own, holding it for just a second before tightening his grip. The whole prison was almost deathly silent, meaning that when the bones crumpled under Bane’s fingers, every single person could hear it. 

With that, there was a burst of noise, every man seemed to be yelling and cheering, the inmates obviously excited for this fight while still keeping a wide, safe birth of it. Myra was pulled into the crowd by a man she recognized as one of Bane’s men, presumably to keep her a safe distance away, but she was still close enough to see Vicelli’s face contort in pain. Bane flung Vicelli’s hand away from him only to bring up his own fist, catching the Italian man in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Not even giving him one second to recover, Bane brought his other fist up and crushed it against the side of Vicelli’s face, knocking the man to the ground. Straddling him, Bane started raining punches down on Vicelli, catching his face and neck, bloodying the man within seconds. 

Every man there seemed to be cheering him on, drowning out whatever noised that the beating could be making. For Myra though, she had never seen such a show of violence in person before and while a part of her was happy she was saved from Vicelli’s grip, seeing the man being taken to a bloody pulp was almost too much for her. 

After a particularly brutal punch that no doubt destroyed the man’s jawbone, Myra couldn’t help but expel an “Oh my god!” 

Even though there was so much noise and commotion, it seemed to have reached Bane's ears. After she said it, Bane lifted his head up and stalled in his beating, searching for just a moment before his eyes met hers. Pushing himself up, Bane made his way to her in long, quick strides, reaching through the few men between them and drawing her to him. Blood covered his knuckles and flaked over his face and mask, making him look even more terrifying than he normally did. 

And yet, Myra did not struggle as she might have only just the morning. She willingly let herself be pulled along, through the crowd and, once they broke free and were close to the stair, she let herself be hauled up and thrown over Bane’s shoulder in a show of dominance. The other inmates were still making a noise and she didn’t see Vicelli get up yet, but once they started ascending the stairs, she had other things on her mind. 

They were going back to Bane’s room, ground zero so to speak. And here she was, riding up to it on Bane’s shoulder, his hand on her lower back holding her in place. A hand that was covered in blood. She could practically smell the testosterone oozing off of him. 

It didn’t take them long to make it to the fifth level, his room only steps away. Bane pressed the buttons himself, letting them in. Only then did he let her down and entered the room fully. Bane immediately went to the window, gripping its pane and taking long, deep breathes. He was giving her the option to run out the open door or stay. Myra couldn’t stop herself from envisioning if she did run, but then she would just be caught down where she was before. Suddenly, everything caught up with her, from Bane to Jeff to Vicelli and everything in between. She couldn’t stop the onslaught of tears. 

Burying her head in her hands, she tried to hold them back. Any other time, she would be scolding herself for crying so much in such a short amount of time, but all she could think about was just how her life was put on the line, her dignity nearly compromised so many times. She tried to cry silently, holding in the hiccups and sniffles, in any attempt to keep it in. 

Without warning, she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and she lifted her head, face red. She didn’t even hear Bane come over to her, but there he was, in all his massiveness. His eyes once again full of thought, comforting her just the tiniest bit that they weren’t that emptiness that haunted her. 

“I’m…sorry,” He said to her in a unsure tone, as if the words were almost foreign to him. But she saw it there in his eyes, the remorse she didn’t even know she wanted until then. And, just like she couldn’t stop herself from crying, she couldn’t stop herself from surging forward and wrapping her arms around him as far as they would go in the first hug she had since arriving at the prison. He didn’t hug her back but also didn’t push her away, only patting her on the back while her tears and snot stained his shirt. 

In the surveillance room, Warden Jeff Daniels stood with his hands gripping the chair in front of him, staring at the camera aimed in Bane’s room. 

“What should we do about Vicelli, sir?” The officer manning the room asked. 

“Make sure he’s alive. Get Bane to solitary,” Came the curt reply. 

“And the girl?” 

“Leave her to me.”


	6. The Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry for the delay in this chapter. I was taking a bit of a mental health break for a while, and then after I wrote it, I was very anxious about posting it. As I am sure you will see why when you get to the end. 
> 
> The lovely comments and kudos are what convinced me to do it, and please, don't hate me for this chapter.

After such a tumultuous day, Myra could have slept for a week and would have been perfectly fine. Just moments after Myra, shocking both Bane and herself, hugged the giant, guards came and pulled her away from him. Myra, disgusted that they didn’t come to her aid earlier, shook them off but she clearly wasn’t their target. Around five guards, each bearing a firearm, surrounded Bane. He was quickly escorted out of cell at gunpoint, not sparing Myra a glance as he complied with his orders. Not long after, Myra was also escorted out of the cell, although with considerably less force. 

She was brought straight to the office where she was unceremoniously dropped off without so much as a word from the men that brought her there. Inside, the girls eyed her warily from their desks for a moment before Lily stood and came to Myra where she stood in the doorway. 

“You okay?” Lily asked quietly, placing a small hand on Myra’s arm. 

“Yeah,” Myra responded curtly, shaking off the hand. She blamed them, not for the first time, and she couldn’t stop herself from doing so. The warden even said that they should have warned her, but never before that day did she think she was in any true danger when it came to Warden Jeff Daniels, but she very easily could have died that day if it weren’t for Bane. 

As she took a seat at her desk, Myra had to admit to herself that she couldn’t blame them fully. Both Alice and Lily had made an attempt to befriend her lately, and the shame she felt from an almost-encounter must course through them both. Of course, she was assuming that, at some point, Jeff had accomplished with them what he set out to do with her. Glancing to her right, she saw Lily take a seat at her own desk, her body language exuding so much guilt that any blame Myra wanted to place on her all but evaporated. 

Thankfully not long after that, it was time to go home. Without saying a word to each other, they piled into the car. Myra almost snorted with disgust when she saw the car was being driven that day by John Blake, another person she blamed for recent events. The car ride was as silent and they reached the apartment quickly.

“Thank you for the ride, Officer,” Alice said to Blake before exiting the car, Lily doing the same. Myra went to exit as well, not even bothering to thank the man, when John cleared his throat, clearly intending for her to stay behind. 

“What?” Myra asked with what was intended to be an attitude, but only came across as exhaustion. 

“You okay?” John asked, brown eyes filled with concern. 

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Myra responded, going to close the door once more. 

“Bane’s going to be spending a while in solitary,” John said, stopping her short. Myra took a deep breath, staring at the ground. She did feel guilty for being the reason Bane would be kept away, although not enough to dull the gratefulness she felt for him saving her. 

“Did Bane kill him?” Myra asked in a small voice. 

“No, but Vicelli is going to have a lot of trouble speaking for a while. His jaw is completely destroyed.”

“Good, serves the bastard right.” With that, Myra decided the conversation was over and shut the door firmly behind her, ignoring that he went to speak again and blocking out the concern he held in his voice. 

The weather was quite nice, so there were several cadets wandering around. Both Lily and Alice had waited for her outside, squinting against the sun. Myra noticed that the men around them were glancing their way with curiosity and she wondered if these low-ranking military men even knew what they were there for. 

“What was that about?” Alice asked, cutting through Myra’s thoughts. 

“He was just filling me in on things,” Myra answered simply, going to enter the apartment. 

“So, what happened?” Alice continued, following after her and obviously not satisfied with that answer. 

“Which part?” Myra asked flatly, punching in the key code to the inner apartment. “The part where you guys just forgot to mention that our boss was going to try to fuck me or what happened afterwards?”

For almost a minute, neither girl responded. They only kicked off their shoes and moved about the apartment, each going about their normal routine. Myra went to do the same, figuring that they were just going to ignore her comment, but right as she went to change into pajamas, Alice’s words stopped her. 

“If it’s any consolation,” She began, her voice hard, “Both of us, as well as the girls before us, have gone through the same thing.” 

In seconds, Myra was suddenly overcome with intense guilt, replacing any anger she had towards them. They thought she was violated in the same way that they were. What happened to Myra was extremely traumatizing, there was no doubt, but the thought of each attempted act being fully acted out…she just couldn’t imagine. 

“What…what happened to you?” Myra asked, swallowing thickly. 

“Some bad things,” Was all Alice would elaborate, clearly indicating that was not a subject of discussion. Myra, while knowing those things could have easily happened to her, sent a silent ‘thank you’ to whatever god would listen. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lily asked again, starting up some soup on the stove. 

“Yeah, Bane saved me,” Myra knew that she had to tell them. They thought she was as hurt as they were when it happened to them and she felt that they had to know. They had earned that much at least. She would feel like a fraud if they did think so. 

“What?” Alice nearly shouted, even squeaked a little, although without the anger that Myra expected would be there. “Did he really?” 

“Yeah,” Myra answered, sitting on the couch. 

“Wow, that’s some boyfriend you’ve got there,” Alice said, laughing. Myra blushed at her words, thinking of the hug she forced on him. Myra says nothing in return, and they spent the night in comfortable silence. But while she said nothing at all to the girls the rest of the night about Bane, she couldn’t help but wonder why she didn’t at least attempt to deny what Alice had said to her like she had all the times before. Perhaps, she admitted to herself, it was just easier to accept the protection he provided and all the names and jokes that would come along with it. 

0o0

The next few days passed quietly and Myra thanked the gods for that. She almost laughed to herself when she thought of how a few short months ago, she thought she could get through this quickly and quietly. In those days, she heard nothing of Bane or of Vicelli or anyone really. She, obviously, was not called upon and would just show up, do her work, and then go back to the apartment. The other two girls were still being called upon regularly, although now when Lily was called, she looked much less frightened. Deep down, Myra knew that Vicelli was the source of her fears and hoped the ugly man remained in the hospital as long as possible. 

On the fifth day since the big incident, Myra had yet to see Warden Daniels. Not that she was hoping too. In fact, the longer she could go without seeing him, the happier she would be. It hit her how odd it was that those five days were the most boring of her time thus far at ADX-Florence. If she was being honest with herself, she missed Bane. After her last encounter with the warden, she had wanted to help Bane in any way she could, knowing his escape would be humiliating to Jeff, but she hadn’t even realized she had wanted this until after they hauled Bane off. As much as anyone can haul off a man of that size, that is. 

The three girls sat in silence well into the afternoon on that day, clicking away at their computers. Around three, Myra’s back was starting to hurt from sitting for so long, for so many days in a row. For the past five days, she would just sit at her desk, get up to go sit in the car, only to sit on the couch where Lily put a drink in her hand. Sometimes she wondered if they drank too much, but those thoughts were chased away when the buzz came on. 

Sighing, Myra pushed herself away from her desk and stood up, arching to crack her back. Just as that happened, the office door opened and two men that Myra had never seen before walked in. Both were dressed in ties and dress pants, similar to how the warden dressed each day, and one of them had thin glasses perched on the tip of his nose. But she was apparently the only one who did not recognize him, which was made obvious when Alice perked up and her voice raised a few octaves, the usual for Alice when she encounters a man.

“Doctor Trager!” Alice exclaimed, a bright smile plastered on her face as she stood. Lily politely said hello before introducing Myra. It became apparent that the man with the glasses was Dr. Trager, neither girl seemed to address the other man with him. 

“Oh good,” Dr. Trager said, coming forward to shake Myra’s hand. “It’s nice to finally meet the reason I have a man hopped up on morphine in my infirmary.” 

“Oh!” Myra said, the doctor’s words rubbing her the wrong way, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “I don’t remember ever breaking anyone’s jaw.”

The doctor said nothing in return to that, but kept a tight-lipped smile before addressing them all. 

“Well girls, as I’m sure you have guessed, it is time for your physicals. Now, if you’ll all come with me, we’ll get you all checked up and on your way,” The doctor said in a curt voice, turning on his heel and leaving the office, closely followed by his assistant. 

“Is this a normal thing?” Myra asked Lily quietly, who had stood to follow the man. 

“Yes, it happens once a year,” Lily answered her. “It only takes a minute and we don’t have to pay for it, so that’s nice.” 

The three girls followed the doctor, down a hall that Myra hadn’t really wandered down before and around a corner, where there was a key code guarded double door with the words INFIRMARY written above it in red. Inside, very little differed it from the rest of the prison. There was an isle lined with cots that looked exactly like the ones in the cells, although the linins looked cleaner, lit with bright florescent lights. On the other end of the isle was another set of double doors like the ones they just walked though, where Myra assumed was easier access from the main prison. There was an office immediately to the left and a steel cabinet to the right, locked with a big padlock. On the far end, in each corner, were curtained off sections that they were all making their way towards. There was only one bed currently filled, with a very bandaged up and bruised Charles Vicelli, who was either sleeping or too drugged up to acknowledge their arrival. Myra noticed that Lily’s step faltered a tiny bit when she saw him and Myra reached her hand back to clasp Lily’s to give it a tiny squeeze. 

“Alright,” Dr. Trager said when they reached the end of isle. “Lily and Alice, pick a room and go in. Myra, if you want to wait out here for just a second.” Myra nodded, not exactly wanting to be in the same room with Vicelli unattended, but he really looked like he couldn’t move much.

Myra sat on the cot next to one of the rooms and the other girls pulled back the curtains to go in. Hoping the time would go by quickly, Myra settled herself in to stare at the wall across from her. She was probably about five minutes in when Vicelli made a gargled, strained noise from his cot, kitty-corner to where Myra was. Myra just looked at him, knowing that he didn’t have the strength to do anything to her. 

With a groan, Vicelli adjusted himself slightly, yet enough that she could see his entire face-or what would be an entire face if a significant portion of it wasn’t covered with thick white bandages. Myra nearly jumped when he opened his eyes, but they were so glazed over that she doubted he could actually focus enough to know she was here. 

But when he groaned again and then a string of gargled non-words came from him, she wondered if she was right in her assumption. When he lifted a hand to point in her general direction with some more garbled words, she knew she was. 

“What do you want, Vicelli?” Myra asked, knowing he wouldn’t be able to answer. Normally, the sight of this man would frighten her, but seeing him so helpless and broken helped cultivate the apathy she had for him now. Particularly because he ended up in that position due to someone acting on her behalf. 

In response, he just groaned some more and then his head lolled to the side and he fell silent. Myra looked at him for a second more, confirming he actually had passed back out before she went back to staring at the wall. 

It wasn’t much longer until Alice emerged and Myra was called in. Inside the curtained off area was just as spare as the outside. A small hospital bed, a stool, and a stainless steel counter made up the entire space. The doctor’s assistant took her weight and her height, asked her a few basic health questions, talked about her mental health (of which she greatly glossed over), all the normal things that would happen in a routine physical. But when Myra had her head turned for just a second, the assistant swabbed a pad over her arm and, without warning, jabbed her with a needle. 

“Ow!” Myra said in surprise, jumping away. “What the hell was that?”

“Tetanus shot,” the assistant explained emotionlessly. Myra had reflexively covered the spot with her hand, removing it only to see a tiny red puncture wound.

“I don’t need it,” Myra argued, worried about any more surprise shots coming her way. But the assistant appeared to be cleaning up, throwing away the needle in a sanitary compartment attached to the wall and taking off his gloves. 

“You got it now,” Was all he said, shrugging before telling her she can go now. 

Still holding her arm, Myra left and met up with Lily and Alice, where they showed themselves out of the infirmary. 

“Hey,” Myra started only after the double doors had shut behind them, “did you guys get a shot too?”

“What?” Alice asked, turning slightly to look at Myra. “No. Did you?” 

“Yeah, a tetanus shot.”

“Maybe you were due for one,” Was the only explanation it seemed that she was going to get. 

They were nearly back into the office, Myra was just at the threshold when it hit her like a brick wall. A strange feeling washed over her, making her feel like she was burning up and going numb all at the same time. She brought one hand out to steady herself on the doorframe, hoping the feeling would pass. Instead, it settled right at the base of her back, coiling up and down sporadically. 

With what little momentum she had, Myra nearly dragged herself to her desk, plopping down very ungracefully.

Myra put her face in her hands, the strange feeling rolling up and down her spine, causing her to moan slightly. This feeling wasn’t entirely foreign to her, it was similar to that time in college that she took ecstasy before some party. And yet the feeling was different. Ecstasy made her feel like she was walking on air and everything was exciting and beautiful. Right now, she felt like she was on fire, that she was burning up from the inside out, but in not an unpleasant way. Myra glanced over at her coworkers, who both looked entirely normal. They weren’t sweating at the temples and holding their heads like she was. More importantly, they looked focused where she could barely read a thing. 

She groaned again, pushing away from her desk to lean back in the chair and close her eyes. Her arms fell limp at her side and she tried to think calming, soothing thoughts but to no relief. Lost in her attempts, Myra didn’t even hear the door open. 

“Hey, Myra,” Came the familiar voice of Officer Will, cutting through her foggy thoughts. “Bane wants to see ya.” 

“Bane?” Myra lifted her heavy head, eyes lolling open, to see the officer standing just in the doorway. The other two girls looked at him for just a second, confirming it wasn’t them he was looking for, before returning to their work. “I thought he was in solitary?” 

“He’s out,” Officer Will simply shrugged. “Come on.” 

“I don’t think I can…” 

“Come on girl, you know the drill by now,” Officer Will calmly replied in his normal friendly voice, but left her no room to argue before turning away from Myra and motioning her to follow. 

With all her strength, Myra hauled herself up and out of her seat, stumbling on unsure legs behind the guard. They hardly walked down the hallway before Officer Will turned to face her, concern in his eyes. 

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, reaching out to lay a friendly hand on her shoulder. At his touch, Myra felt like an electric shock ran through her. She ripped herself away and stumbled into the wall, bracing herself against it for support. 

“I’m fine,” Myra said through gritted teeth. 

“Yeah, sure seems like it,” Officer Will responded, but did not attempt to touch her again. Quickly and silently, and with plenty of distance between them, they made their way to the prison. As they were ascending the stairs, Myra had to grip the railing tightly as her knees threatened to buckle at any moment. Even the feeling of the cool steel sent little shockwaves through her palm. 

She hadn’t even given much thought to the fact she would be seeing Bane with her in this condition until they were directly outside of his cell and Officer Will was punching the buttons. The door slid open and Myra stumbled inside, hoping Bane was in one of his sour moods and would just leave her alone. 

Myra would have made a beeline for the bed, fully intent on trying to sleep off whatever condition has befallen her, if Bane wasn’t already seated there. He was leaning forward, hand clasped together and elbows resting on his knees, waiting for her to come. Her stomach fluttered when she saw him, her stupid mind bringing up the thought of the last time she saw him. Of course, she thought, she couldn’t think of anything through the fog EXCEPT for when she saw the man. 

“What’s up?” Myra asked Bane, attempted to sound even a little bit normal, even as her voice broke. “I thought you were in solitary.” 

“I’m out,” Bane said with a shrug. 

“Oh,” was all Myra said before she decided that if she couldn’t have the bed, the desk would do. But her stupid feet tripped over themselves, causing her launce forward and brace herself against the concrete. She groaned, this time in embarrassment, but immediately stopped when she heard Bane get up off the bed. Turning to look, she saw him cover the distance between them in a single stride. 

“No Bane, don’t…” But before she could stop him, a huge hand came up and was placed on her forehead, checking her temperature. 

“Are you feeling alright?” Was asked of her for the second time, but instead of the electric shock she felt when Officer Will had touched her, Myra’s whole body felt like it was melting at Bane’s hand. Myra put her hands on top of Bane’s pushing his hand further into her forehead hoping to get even more of that feeling. 

“What are you doing?” Bane asked her cautiously, but didn’t attempt to remove his hand from her. 

“It just feels so good…” Myra responded in a hushed tone, dragging his hand down to her cheek and pressing it in again. “Give me that one,” Myra demanded, taking his other hand without waiting for him to respond. Whether he was in shock or just wanted to see what she was going to do, Bane allowed it. 

Myra brought each hand to either side of her face, sighing when his fingers wrapped around into her hair. His scent wrapped around her, warming her despite the cold mountain air that constantly pierced through the thick, cement walls. She wanted more. 

Still keeping his hands on her face, Myra stepped forward to press her entire body into Bane’s, her head only coming up to his chest where she buried her nose to take a deep breath of him. 

“Myra…” Bane said in a deep, low voice that Myra could hear rumbling through his chest. And while the single word was laced with warning, he still did not go to move away from her. Myra turned her head to the side, bringing one of Bane’s hands to the front of her face with the movement, brushing his skin with her lips. 

“Don’t,” Bane rasped out again, but Myra, still enthralled that she could hear his voice through a rumble in his chest, gave no heed. More, was all she could think. She needed to have more. 

It was that thought alone that had Myra pressing her lips into his palm which, in turn, made the melting sensation inside of her turn into fire. She burned with the need to touch him more with her hands, her lips, any part of her she could. 

Looking back, she could have described it as an out of body experience, that she wasn’t entirely in control of herself when she traced small pecks down his wrist and up his forearm, to those gloriously huge muscles that lay underneath. She wasn’t herself, wasn’t even thinking when she stood on her tip-toes to press a wet kiss on his neck. At that, Bane seemed to snap back to life, ripping his hands away from her grasp only to push her away from him. 

“You need to stop, Myra,” Bane demanded and as he spoke, Myra felt this deep rooted need to be back where she was, as if he was denying her water or food. She needed to touch him, needed it more than anything she had ever needed in her entire life. 

“Bane, please,” Myra nearly begged, trying to come back to him but Bane held her off. 

“No,” Bane said with finality, his eyes filled with something Myra hadn’t seen in him before. It wasn’t his normal calmness nor the anger she had come to know, his eyes were clouded and his pupils were huge, making his eyes nearly black. He took a deep breath, and in that breath the cloudiness was nearly whipped away. “I’m not…I’m not well Myra. If you continue this, I won’t be able to stop.” 

Myra was in no frame of mind to fully comprehend the implications of Bane’s words, but the need to touch him was so overwhelming she was completely willing to throw caution to the wind. Whatever he meant, she did not mind, because at that same moment, she was unable to stop that deep yearning within her to touch, to kiss, every part of him. 

Without saying another word, without Bane giving her permission to, she slipped out of Bane’s loose grip. Her feet brought her forward once more and her entire body sung with relief when she pressed herself against him again. She traced her hands up and around Bane’s neck, splaying her fingers up the back of his head and feeling with her fingertips the thick strap that came down the back of his head. She sighed with happiness and leaned up to place small little pecks along his jawline. 

With that, something inside of Bane broke. Whatever self-control he was holding onto slipped away from him. With both hands, he cupped Myra’s ass and lifted her up, where Myra instinctively wrapped her legs around him. In one fowl swoop, he threw them both on the bed, bracing himself as he came down as to not crush the girl underneath him. If Myra did not know what Bane had meant before, she understood perfectly now. And she did not object. 

Myra moaned wantonly, pleased just to have her whole body wrapped around this beast of a man. Her body buzzed with excitement, the fire within her almost overwhelming. It took her a moment to break through the sheer pleasure in her mind to realize that Bane was touching her back, feeling down her sides and around her hips, rounding around to come back up and over her stomach and up to her breasts, enveloping them through her dress. That caused a whole different sensation for Myra, it wasn’t only a deep need being sedated, but desire overcame her as well. 

Myra was feeling up the man on top of her as well, fingertips brushing across every inch of exposed skin she could reach, which wasn’t a whole lot. Before long, Myra was frustrated she couldn’t have more. With Bane’s busy groping various parts of her body, she slipped a hand down the back of his white tank top, feeling the muscles on his back ripple as he moved around. 

Bane, with less finesse, pushed his hands under her dress, quickly hiking it up. Knowing what he was going for, Myra sat up and helped with slipping it off before sliding back under Bane, now even more pleased that her exposed skin was rubbing against him. She delighted in the sensations when Bane’s shirt came up just a tiny bit, allowing the skin on their stomachs to touch, sighed with happiness when Bane gripped her ass under her underwear, and shrieked with pleasure when Bane ripped her bra off. With great skill, Bane tweaked her nipple, making Myra yelp with delight. If Myra was asked in that moment, she would have said that was her new favorite thing, which was only confirmed when Bane did it again with much the same reaction from her. With her legs still wrapped around him, Myra scooted his pants off enough for them to pool at his knees. Sliding her legs down, she reviled in the feel of her smooth legs against his rough ones. Leaning up, she placed kisses on any part of his face that she could reach, bemoaning the fact that she could not get to his lips. 

All thoughts of that were completely thrown from her mind, though, when Bane brought his hips down to meet hers, his clothed erection meeting her. Immediately, Myra went to grind up against him, to encourage him that yes, this is what she wanted. 

“Stay still,” Bane growled, voice low, using one hand to push her hips back into the itchy mattress. The feeling of his broad hand so close to the very core of her had Myra wriggling under his touch, itching for him to touch her. 

“Behave, Myra,” Bane warned, before brushing the same hand on her inner thigh, bringing himself even closer to the very thing she wanted, only to take it off of her. Myra let loose a long, loan moan, struggling to lay still when all she wanted was to have every inch of her pressed up against him. Her senses were at an all time high, her breath coming out in short bursts, and yet she just lay there under Bane while the man’s eyes roamed her. His gaze penetrated her, felt almost as good as his touch, but wasn’t good enough. 

As if he read her thoughts, Bane stripped himself of his shirt before descending back on her, mask digging into her shoulder as he brought his hips down on her once more. Myra didn’t know when he had fully stripped himself, but it certainly was no longer cloth she was feeling against her thigh. 

Bane’s erection was as thick and as hard as the rest of him and she could feel a tiny bit of precum being spread across her inner leg. Myra tried to wrap her legs around his waist again, only to have him stop her. Without saying a word, Bane braced himself on one arm next to Myra’s head while the other hand finally, thankfully, found purchase at her wetted opening, prodding for only a second before plunging in one digit, followed by a second one a moment later. 

Bane was being less than gentle, and it was nothing short of perfect. 

Myra moaned and cooed underneath him, letting his fingers ravish her body and leave her a sweaty mess. And yet, it still wasn’t enough. It was skillful and wonderful and in another frame of mind, Myra would wonder where he picked up some of the tricks he was performing, but her body demanded to be filled completely. The fire inside was threatening to consume her and she was more than willing to let it. 

When Bane touched a particularly sweet spot inside of her, Myra groaned low and long which only encouraged him to press against it again. 

“More,” Myra gasped out, throwing her arms around his shoulders and bringing him down on her, nearly crushing her. He went to add a third finger, loosening her just a little bit more. Judging by the weight on her leg, Bane was being quite considerate in prepping her. 

Suddenly, without any warning, Bane slipped his fingers out of her and, much to her continued delight, Myra felt his girth line up with her opening. Yet, still he paused. 

“For god’s sake Bane, just fucking do it!” Myra shouted at him, every single cell in her body demanding that this happen. Bane still would not move, he just looked down on her with all the intensity his gaze normally possessed, but still with that clouded over look. Myra could hear the wheezing of his breath, a long deep one, before the man spoke. 

“I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to stop.” In any other situation, that might have caused Myra to be afraid but instead, it caused her body to sing. It was then that she knew what that cloudiness in his eyes was-it was desire. Want. He wanted her and god damn, she wanted him too. 

“I don’t think I told you to!” Myra gasped out, desperate. 

In the same Bane fashion that she had come to know, he breached her without any further preamble. 

In that moment, everything was right with the world. He was very proportionate and while she would have normally thought it would hurt, it seemed like her body was made to take him in. He was going slow, only about half-hilt in, but it still caused stars to burst in her vision. 

At first, he was quite silent, compared to her loudly responding to each and every one of his thrusts. Then, without warning, he buried himself fully within her and Bane let loose a growl that melted Myra all over again. From there, he was relentless. He pounded into her without discretion and Myra’s voice was so close to going horse that she decided to clamp down on his collarbone, teeth digging into his skin, which only encouraged Bane to go faster. 

He pulled out for a second and before Myra could object, he pawed at her hips and flipped her over, forcing her upper body into the bed and her lower body into the air. Bane entered again and the new angle only destroyed Myra even more. She brought a fist to her mouth to at least attempt to stifle herself, but she had never felt so full in her life. Bane continued to grunt and groan above her, and each noise he made only propelled Myra closer to her finish. 

She could tell Bane was getting close too, his rhythm was getting more spastic, his thrusts deep and true every time. Feeling the passion rolling off of him, having him hit her spot every time, was causing her orgasm to come hard and fast. 

With only that warning, Myra bit down on her hand enough to leave a mark as she exploded. With her eyes screwed shut, Myra could only focus on the wave after wave of pleasure that overcame her. Bane was still furiously thrusting into her, having leaned down over her so that his mask dug into her back. 

She heard it before she felt it. Bane let loose a roar that reverberated throughout Myra’s body as he spilt himself within her, thrusting a few more times through his orgasm before he pulled out of her, trailing a string of semen with him. Collapsing on the bed beside her, Bane’s breathing was irregular, the metallic breath coming out in short, inconsistent burst. 

Myra, too dazed with the fog returning, only half registered when Bane sat up on the bed and faced away from her. He fiddled with his mask until the robotic breathing stopped, replaced with unhindered, open breaths. If Myra had bothered to sit up, she might have been able to see Bane without that horrible mask that had no doubt left scrapes up and down her back. Instead, whatever high she had been on immediately drained from her body, leaving Myra a shell of herself. An exhausted, nearly asleep shell. 

Her last vague memory of the evening was Bane readjusting his mask before turning back to look at her.


End file.
